Hospital colleagues talk of burnout and a lack of camaraderie. I know how we can begin to change that

Dr Rory Barry

Junior doctor in a Dublin hospital

Staff are overworked, resources are finite and the media hammer home the well-known inadequacies of our healthcare system. I believe this negativity seeps into the staff’s mindset which results in a hostile work environment and destroys a positive community spirit.

The backbone of the healthcare system are the people who work in it every day, even as resources remain forever limited and patients’ level of care and deserved expectations continue to heighten. The Covid-19 pandemic has put further strain on staff, both personally and professionally.

In recent times, colleagues talk of a poorer working atmosphere due to burnout and a lack of camaraderie, and thoughts turn to greener pastures in enviable healthcare systems such as Australia’s.

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Like many others, I went to Perth in Western Australia for a brief lifetime experience before stepping back into Irish healthcare because being close to family trumps all.

My lasting memory of hospital working life in Australia was a near palpable positivity amongst staff towards each other. While many of the HSE issues were not applicable, the cultivation of a “support one another” attitude was fostered by the staff. I believe this has fallen by the wayside in the Irish healthcare system.

The management and resources required to create an Irish healthcare system our nation can be confident in and staff can be happy with will not come to fruition in the near future. As a result, the spirit of healthcare workers must be cultivated from within the current environment.

Acknowledging and being grateful for each other’s work, whether over a team coffee or end-of-week pint is hugely important. And simple gestures like holding a door for a colleague and positively engaging with one another in the care of a patient is needed more than ever. We cannot expect patients on waiting lists to consistently be grateful for our work, but we can support each other.

• As our health system begins to return to normal activity levels following the Covid-19 pandemic, we would like to hear about one change you would like to see. It can be something simple that annoys you, day in, day out, that is easily fixed, or it can be a small change in practice or attitude that would make life easier for everyone. Email health@irishtimes.com with your suggestion or fill in the form below.