David Oliver: My personal pandemic experience is just one of many

Dear Editor

I read this account with great sadness, especially knowing as the author alludes to, this will by no means be a unique account. Likewise I know that I’m not unique in wishing Dr Oliver well in his recovery and very much hope that the opportunity to serve as President of The Royal College of Physicians presents itself again.

The account demonstrates the interdependence we all have on one another in society, for us and it to function. And a functioning society is instrumental to our population health. In my experience of the pandemic I quickly noticed by their absence, the importance of the entertainment and arts industries in helping me to decompress from the rigours of work during my career up until March 2020. I probably could have survived better had I just been able to go to a gig. One of the most heartbreaking all-too-common discussions I had with relatives of the critically Ill was the calamitous wider effect it had on families when the main breadwinner on a zero hour, gig economy, contract could no longer work; financial uncertainty for the whole family. Union activity through the industrial revolution had hugely positive implications for public health and health and safety which also affected the expanding private sector. As an unhappy burnt out workforce approaches challenging an insulting paycut, affecting my whole career as a 2008 graduate, we must promote the understanding that the public and private sectors rely on one another and that our terms and conditions set precedent for theirs. This is not “us and them”.