Tending is a work of activism on behalf of the NHS. The script brings together the testimony of 70 nurses in a show spoken by three performers. It’s full of surprises and shocks. All NHS nurses are obliged to annotate their actions as they work. ‘If you haven’t documented it, you haven’t done it,’ they’re told. A nurse estimates that she spends 20 per cent of her time caring for patients and the rest of it chronicling her doings on bits of paper.
There appears to be no feedback mechanism that enables the nurses to help managers find ways to improve the service. A nurse tells the story of a lunatic who barricaded himself inside a lavatory cubicle and slit his throat open. He couldn’t be helped because the locks operated from the inside only. Could this flaw be corrected? No chance, apparently. The system lacks any kind of elasticity.
There are one or two lighter moments. Nurses are sometimes asked to smuggle dogs into wards to say goodbye to their dying owners. A priest with insomnia was entertained by a helpful nurse who played hymns to him all night. The hospital managers know how to protect their interests. Sometimes they prevent staff from speaking to health visitors on official visits. And if an MP is admitted, an empty bed is found immediately, even if the vacancy is provided at the expense of another patient who gets shunted into a corridor.
Some of the revelations are more disturbing. A male worker confesses that he hides behind an emotional force field that enables him to walk through his 12-hour shift, eyes down, head bowed, ignoring every request from patients.
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