Tuesday 5 July 2016

#HappyBirthdayNHS



Today is the NHS's 68th birthday, and I am so grateful for all the help and support I have received from the NHS. So this post is dedicated to the NHS. Without them, I wouldn't be alive right now.

The NHS has looked after me when I needed them the most, and for that I will be eternally grateful. For as long as I can remember, they have provided free healthcare which I speak on behalf of everyone in England - we are so grateful for it. Whereas in other countries you have to pay for healthcare, I'm so thankful that we don't. For those of us who need psychiatric help, without the NHS most of us would probably already be six feet under. They've provided me with specialist psychiatric help; taking me in at the age of 13 and looking after me until I turned 18. I don't know about other places, but the NHS in Newcastle has been my life line for the past 6 years. My camhs team were one of the best, but only now that I've left do I realise that. I shouted, screamed, cried, broke down and shut down in front of many of the professionals working on my case, but not once did they threaten to discharge me or leave me. They stuck by me until I transferred over to adult services. If I hadn't been admitted to an adolescent NHS inpatient service, I can 100% guarantee I wouldn't be alive. Thank you to the NHS in Middlesbrough where I received inpatient help. Thank you to the NHS for employing such inspiring, wonderful and life changing mental health nurses and health care assistants at the inpatient unit I was admitted to. Thank you for letting me turn my life around with the help of professionals, and letting me meet other young people who made me realise I'm not alone. Thank you to the NHS for the wonderful doctors, nurses and health care assistants at A&E, who have treated me with such care, compassion, respect and dignity. Thank you for not judging me when I'm admitted to A&E for an overdose, or for self harm. Thank you for employing the most wonderful psychiatric nurses and creating the psychiatric liaison team at my local hospital. Thank you to the NHS for creating specialist services, such as personality disorder services. Thank you for employing wonderful psychiatrists and psychologists who make you feel loved and cared for. 

Thank you to the NHS for helping me staying alive. 

#HappyBirthdayNHS

The NHS will last as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it.