The brand new well being secretary issued steerage instructing employees to not use the Oxford comma
6.8 million folks in England are at the moment on ready lists for routine hospital therapy on the NHS. Three in ten folks are ready 4 hours or extra at A&E. There are over 46,000 nurse vacancies within the NHS.
On this context, what’s the precedence of the brand new well being secretary Thérèse Coffey? Apparently it isn’t tackling the disaster within the well being service. It’s policing the grammar and language utilized by healthcare employees.
In response to experiences, Coffey has issued steerage for healthcare employees on the Division of Well being and Social Care’s intranet which has additionally been circulated to UK Well being Safety Company workers. The steerage instructs employees to “be constructive”, “be exact”, “keep away from double negatives”, and keep away from utilizing the ‘Oxford comma’.
The steerage has been described as “patronising” by folks working within the well being sector. Many individuals have additionally questioned the priorities of the brand new well being secretary following the information.
Labour peer Prem Sikka mentioned, “6.8m folks ready for NHS England appointment; 132,000 vacancies, lack of beds; actual wage cuts for workers, ambulances delayed. Well being Secretary Thérèse Coffey tells workers to “be constructive” and keep away from “Oxford commas”. Tories do reside in a parallel universe.”
A linguistics lecturer tweeted, “as a linguist, I can completely verify that the Oxford comma just isn’t a healthcare disaster”.
One other Twitter person mentioned, “I’ve seen some issues in my time, some good, some dangerous, and a few totally ludicrous. This nevertheless is the latter two with a topping of mind-blowing nonsense at a time the place there are different priorities reminiscent of ready lists, capability, most cancers screenings, and recruitment amongst others.”
Chris Jarvis is head of technique and growth at Left Foot Ahead
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