Why, the NHS?
As many of you know, the NHS recently turned 70 years old. This is an amazing achievement, and it has been really entertaining to read many stories on the news about the changes and achievements that the NHS has experienced . A really good video to watch is the ‘NHS70 Innovation – The Digital Age’ on YouTube (link at bottom of blog).
In the UK, there are approximately 1.7 million members of staff that make up the NHS. This makes us the 5th largest employer in the world! Clearly, the NHS is doing something right, and many people choose to work here, but why? With the 70th celebrations in mind, I decided to ask some of my fellow colleagues:
‘Why, the NHS?’
Some of the answers were:
- ‘I like how the organisation is very people centred, and cares about their staff. It feels like a caring and nurturing environment. I love how the whole purpose is to help others who are in need, and it feels like you’re giving something back.’
- ‘I’ve always wanted to have a career that involves helping people, and the NHS is just the place to do that!’
- ‘As an American patient in both Scotland and England I experienced first-hand how caring NHS staff are, and I wanted to give back to the service that gave me so much when I needed it, so that it can continue to help other patients far into the future.’
- ‘The idea of working in a public organisation that doesn’t focus on making a profit really appeals to me.’
- ‘I want to give back to an organisation that has provided me, my family, and friends, with so much. Without the NHS, many people I know personally would be a lot worse off than they are now.’
The responses I have included were a few of many, and most of them all carried two main themes – wanting to give back, or wanting to help others.
In my opinion, this is the key to the NHS’s success – staff members are constantly striving to create a better healthcare service – and not because it makes profit, or provides them with a salary, but because it fulfils an altruistic desire.
Here’s to the next 70 years of a wonderful healthcare service, full of kind and altruistic staff members.
Sound a bit like you? Why don’t you consider applying for the graduate scheme!