Sunday 22 June 2008

A blogging rut, happy 60th NHS

If I knew the secret to writing inspiring masterpieces week in week out I'd be a billionaire by now, and if I could just intermittently write the odd masterpiece I'd be content. Finding the drive to write is difficult in the ruts, sometimes one thinks its better to just write nothing when there's no creative spark, at other times one thinks it would be better to grind through regardless.

I can't find the inspiration at the moment and I have no idea why. Work has been fairly busy, but then work is always busy, so that's no decent excuse. The NHS is 60 years old this year, so I should be celebrating this great landmark, but for some reason I do not feel like celebrating.

It is not the NHS that should be celebrated in my opinion, the system and the structure leave a lot to be desired in my eyes. From my few years of practice it is the humanity of the staff and the patients that should be celebrated, and this is frequently in spite of the system.

No matter how the government grind us down there are some things that they cannot take away from us, no matter how hard they try. The satisfaction and sense of achievement that one experiences at a job well done makes the daily grind well worth it. The variety and complexity that a career in medicine brings to one's life cannot be converted into pounds and pence.

I'm sure the government will try to spin the 60th birthday into some propaganda peddling extravaganza, luckily the majority of us stopped listening a long long time ago. Despite all the negativity and gloom, working in the NHS gives me a faith in humanity that stops me falling off in the ruts. Even though the government want to turn us all against each other in order to further their own short sighted self interest, through my daily contacts I see that they will never break us down.

4 comments:

Dr Michael Anderson said...

i have to say Garth, that I've really enjoyed reading your blog over the past couple of years. In fact, you and the now defunct Hospital Phoenix were the main reasons I started blogging myself. I hope you find some inspirattion soon, but if blogging is not fun anymore, is there much point in persuing it?

Maybe you should take a break from blogging for a while and try to rediscover your "mojo"

I wish you all the best

Garth Marenghi said...

thanks michael,

it's hard when one has a lot of things on ones plate,

I think i'll be taking a semi-break and posting slightly less frequently for a while until the fire returns to my belly,

regards

Unknown said...

a break or semi-break probably is a good idea. I'll be dropping in to drool over the ferrets!

Dr Xavier Ray said...

I know the feeling Garth.
It takes it out of you to be thinking about and researching your next piece. The bloggers who do keep it up month after month generally restrict themselves to a short entry and invite comment or do it as a team. The Ian Dale and Dr Crippen are exceptions but they probably have bipolar personality disorder.
I took a break and then came back but it wasn't the same. I hope you keep your blog going
Xavier