Medical Advocacy

When I first picked up my Fuji X-T2, I bought a 35mm and experimented with street photography and a rescue cat series. I decided that I liked the idea of photojournalism and this was around the time that we had just seen social media galvanise junior doctors in to rallying for a better contract. 50,000 doctors got together for a march in London and it was one of the most amazing things I have seen as I was very scared of the system at the time. These 50,000 doctors did not give a monkey's however and they just spoke their truth and allowed the public to see that our working conditions were not what people think. Many medics became influencers following that and different to those medics who were already early adopters of things like instagram for promoting cooking recipes or wellness. It was an era of Doctor influencers who were putting themselves up as a new group of leaders to represent grassroots. They were making speaking up and whistleblowing almost trendy and working with the media like our unions and royal colleges have never done before. These unelected leaders overtime I observed were shouldering enormous pressure. I have always thought it is also near impossible to credibly lead change within the NHS and ascend within NHS leadership and so there is a lot at stake. How I imagine leading in significant change and wobbling to hypocrisy - is that you give your all, leaving little resilience and when people criticise it is deflating. It probably feels like no one is grateful and everyone is just against you, that you don't have many people you can trust and that believe in a different way and believe in you. So you then concede because the people that want your integrity to be corrupted, as it interferes with their self interests (even if it is just ego narrative), are all around you just waiting and slowly infiltrating. My feeling is if you want to change the world, be honest about why and if it is about a lack of validation within you and not about the betterment of our community - then just realise you don't love yourself yet. If you took time to do that you may then realise what it is you actually want and you don't expend other people's energy through that navigation. It's not a great thing to let people down, when people believe in you and root for you. When you can see or feel like you've given oppressed people a voice for good - that is a complete honour and it should not be something you irresponsibly use. I think there are people that are still fighting the good fight and I am always wishing them well and hoping they can stay strong through what can often be a lonely and thankless journey.