The stereotypical doctor is austere, authoritative and certainly not the kind of character who would play pranks while on duty. So when NHS workers in a Swindon hospital were suspended this week for taking amusing photos of each other as part of a Facebook game, they betrayed this perhaps rather outdated view on how doctors and healthcare professionals should act. But did they really do anything wrong?
The Facebook lying down game does not involve anything overtly offensive or shaming. It actually involves people doing very little at all … as the founders state, it is simply “a group for all those who enjoy the sport of lying down in random public places to confuse people”. The press statement from the Great Western Hospital even said patient care was not compromised and staff cover was maintained at all times. There has been absolutely no public outcry, with support for the doctors and nurses involved virtually unanimous across online news message boards, with contributors defending the NHS workers as ‘blowing off steam’ as a way to relieve the daily pressures and stresses they face on an A & E ward. One comment highlighted that by suspending the whole shift, patient care could be compromised, whereas playing the game itself runs a much lower chance of affecting patients. Another comment from ‘NHS Staff Rotherham’ following on from The Independent newspaper’s report said “we have our ‘laying down’ pictures put up in the office [and] the director has laughed at them”.
On the flipside, it’s easy to criticise when we’re not in the position of the managers who suspended the workers. The reputation of the hospital is at stake and there is a profound – and not wholly unfounded – fear that the fun could get out of hand, requiring the need for an official, unambiguous response from the hospital. If the media or public became concerned about a threat to patient safety, managers would be in big trouble. But when all the accused did was have their photos taken, albeit on resuscitation trolleys and the air ambulance heli-pad, wouldn’t a non-public slap on the wrists fitted the crime more appropriately?
Tags: Facebook, Great Western Hospital, NHS, Swindon