Left to right: Councillor Alexandra Bulat and Dido Harding. Photos: Alexandra Bulat/PA
Thousands of people have come together after Dido Harding allegedly vowed to end NHS reliance on “foreign” doctors and nurses.
Dr Alexandra Bulat, who last month became the first Romanian County Councillor in the UK, asked on Twitter: “Anyone treated by ‘foreign’ NHS staff?
“Millions of us have been. Let’s share this so Dido knows we value and welcome all NHS staff. #NoToXenophobia”
And she was surprised at the “amazing stories” she received in response.
Cllr Bulat, an active campaigner for EU citizens rights in the UK, continued: “I hope the NHS staff here on Twitter see this thread and feel the appreciation they deserve.”
One user said a Lithuanian doctor sewed her face back together in A&E after a farm accident in 2003: “His stitches were so exceptionally neat you can hardly see the scar, and I still remember telling him through my diazepam-addled haze, ‘I wish you’d made my wedding dress.’”
And Janine Smith said her newborn son had heart surgery with an Italian doctor 14 years ago.
Donald Allwright said: “To be honest I don’t ask the nationality of those who treat me as it’s not relevant. But I’m very happy to have been treated by people with a wide range of accents and ethnicities.
“Why is this even an issue in 2021? What a backwards country the UK is becoming.”
And Anna Noble said her grandfather would be the first to be “absolutely appalled” by Dido Harding’s latest comments.
“My grandfather spent eight weeks in ITU in 2007, he nearly died, ‘foreign’ NHS staff were amongst those who defied the odds and saved him giving him 14 more years,” Noble said.
One person said the UK is lucky to have her monther, a “foreign” NHS worker, and her colleagues – after having been working in UK’s public healthcare system for 18 years. “People seem to forget that the NHS doesn’t just ‘rely’ on migrant workers – migrants *are* the NHS and part of what makes it, at its best, excellent.”
Another user said she was in labour in hospital for three days: “The first midwife I had was Italian, she was wonderful and came back after the birth to check on me. Second was Estonian, brilliant. Third was English, told me I was being ‘dramatic’ when getting an epidural and terrified my son was stuck.”
Translator Max Gilardenghi concluded: “An NHS without foreigners? I have a better idea. How about an NHS without Dido Harding!”
The flood of reactions comes after Baroness Harding of Winscombe promised to end England’s reliance on foreign healthcare staff if she manages to become the next NHS leader, according to The Times.
If successful, the Tory peer will become chief executive of Europe’s biggest employer, with a budget of more than £150 billion and a waiting list of anxious patients awaiting treatment and surgery which stands at around five million.
According to the NHS England annual report for 2019/20, the chief executive salary was between £195,000 and £200,000.
Harding is close to ministers but her leadership of the Covid-19 testing programme has been harshly criticised as ‘ineffective and wasteful’, according to The Sunday Times.
Earlier this month, Harding defended the test-and-trace system, saying that “expectations were set too high”.
Related: Dido Harding vows to end NHS reliance on foreign workers
Dido Harding says expectations for £37bn test and trace were ‘too high’
First Romanian County Councillor in the UK officially elected
