The Campbell Academy Blog | Colin Campbell (217)

25 Years (almost)

It’s almost 25 years since I stepped through the doors here, for the very first time.

In fact, as I “write” this I am sat beside the water towers, where I used to get the taxi’s into town from my accommodation at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham.

This was my first proper job after leaving the dental school, that had taught and fostered me and nourished me, through house jobs.

I walked through the doors again, this time to see a friend, who was badly hurt from a bike accident, but it is always difficult to come here.

My children were born here.

It’s always difficult to come here.

It’s hard to see how hard it is for all the people who work here.

All the brilliant and the wonderful and talented, motivated, caring and altruistic people, who man the trenches at the front line of proper NHS healthcare.

The job that I threw away.

I tried to find project within my work now, to push back some form of altruism into the system, but it’s not like being here.

Paul was lying in bed. On oxygen and with an epidural in to take away the pain.

He was singing the praises of a young healthcare assistant who had ran about mad all through the night, the night before to take care of him.

There is not much money in that.

There’s not much status in that.

But there should be.

What is a more important job than that? Other than perhaps educating our children (and that’s not more important, it’s just equally as important).

People who work in my profession, often pretend they work in health care like this, but they don’t.

This is a sharp, sharp end, making a real difference to people’s lives and it’s struggling and it’s struggling, bad.

It’s humbling, that’s exactly what it is.

Paul spoke about the skill of the consultant’s and how dedicated they have been in looking after him for the past 24 hours.

Where is that in our line of work? (Dentists)

There are a few, but not so many left.

Yes, it’s hard to watch 25 years on.

It’s not that my ladder is against the wrong wall, it’s just perhaps that I need to spread my reach.