Volunteer medics, your country needs you
IHAD a mate who was Army Barmy. Never joined up full-time but loved everything about the military, from the cap badges to the principles behind giving service to the nation. So when he joined the reserve, as a medic in the Territorial Army he realised an ambition he thought he would never achieve – a life in civvy street, but with weekends and exercises that satisfied his urge, not just to play soldiers, as the critics would have it, but to feel he was doing his bit to stand up for the defence of the nation.
The military reserve has gone through ups and downs since its formation in the early 20th century, but the principle of having a kind of standby army, ready for use in emergencies and to bolster the regular force, remains a big part of Britain’s defence capabilities.
The defence of the nation is the first priority of government. But healing the sick and caring for those who are unwell runs it a close second today. And, as we are seeing only too clearly, a National Health Service under pressure is not just a threat to those who are hit by dis
ease. The whole nation suffers when the only way to protect the NHS is to shut down virtually everything else.
That’s what we are doing in this third lockdown in ten months. We are trying to reduce the numbers falling ill because there is a limit beyond which the NHS cannot cope.
When under military attack, a whole nation effectively becomes part of the war effort. And the Army Reserve made up of volunteers, along with the separate Regular Reserve, made up of former full-time soldiers, are the first to be called up.
There is, surely, a case for creating
a medical equivalent of the volunteer Territorial Army – let’s call it the Medical Reserve – that stands ready to bolster the full-time doctors, nurses and healthcare support staff when health emergency strikes.
I am not just thinking of those retired medical professionals, many of whom have already volunteered to return to the bedsides of the sick during this crisis.
I am thinking about a whole new volunteer force who would learn some essential skills, be given opportunities to spend time in hospitals or surgeries and could, in times of crisis, come forward to provide a massive boost to overstretched services.
There are, of course, hurdles to overcome, from teaching skills needed to play a useful role in a medical setting to questions about everything from dealing with patient confidentiality to claims of medical negligence. And it is hard to see this new service being created in time to deal with the current pandemic – although volunteers are already coming forward to assist with the vaccine roll-out and should be encouraged.
But it seems to me that, while medicine gets ever more complicated and the core professionals must be trained to an ever higher degree, there are roles that could be undertaken by motivated, intelligent and caring individuals, given the right instruction and support that could prove decisive in times of crisis.
Companies are praised for releasing employees to carry out vital voluntary work in other sectors, from manning the lifeboats to military service. Incentives could be devised so that businesses would release employees to the Medical Reserve, too. And having a trained reservist on the factory floor or in the office would be a big advantage for businesses and reassuring for other employees.
I have always thought there is a largely untapped resource in Britain of people keen to help in all sorts of ways but too often excluded because they don’t have the skills or the organisational back-up. The pandemic has shown us that, while we can build or buy vital medical equipment and put up emergency Nightingale Hospitals, what’s missing are staff. We need, clearly, to recruit and train more full-time doctors and nurses. But medical emergencies, from winter flu outbreaks to global crises like coronavirus, call for extra but (hopefully) temporary support. I present the answer, in the shape of the Medical Reserve. Who is ready to sign up?
‘I am thinking of a new volunteer force to boost over-stretched medical services’