Putting politics at the heart of everything
by James Innes-Smith, Artillery Row:
One of the National Health Services’ core principles is to put the patient “at the heart of everything” it does. A noble undertaking — but lately it seems to be shifting away from the needs of patients to something more politically motivated. Like so many institutions, the NHS now sees itself as an ally of the social justice revolution currently sweeping the nation. I was reminded of this uncomfortable reality during a recent email correspondence with ICope, the mental health arm of the NHS.
I had been enquiring about therapy courses and received an email laying out the various options available to patients. The letter was polite and informative, asking whether I felt “well and safe”. The administrator signed off with her preferred pronouns in colourful child-like letters next to an LGBTQI+ rainbow flag that included the ICope logo hidden amongst the cacophony of clashing stripes. So far, so progressive. Then beneath the flag I noticed a hefty banner linking me to the BLM website.
Naturally, I clicked. Perhaps BLM had something interesting to say about the UK’s current mental health crisis — or maybe it had been campaigning to get the Tory government to spend more on psychiatric treatments. I knew that George Floyd had suffered from mental health issues due to an opioid addiction, so I wondered whether there might be something about black people being more likely to experience serious mental health problems such as Major Depressive Disorder or Generalised Anxiety Disorder.
As I sifted through BLM’s familiar campaigning rhetoric, I found precisely nothing about the NHS or mental health more broadly. Instead there was the usual backslapping from board members who claim to be “combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination” whilst “charting new horizons for Black Joy and Black liberation”. Nothing about how they intend to reach this joyous new dawn but — hey! — if it generates more funding, who cares.
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