Moral Injury

The #MSEBuddyNetwork meeting yesterday was discussing moral injury, particularly in light of dealing with the pandemic.

The group were sharing issues where they have been asked to do things, or not do, that go against the individual’s morals or that they could make things right.

As a manager of a large team I had to introduce mechanisms to try to keep the whole team safe and Covid secure. This has meant impacting on their home situations. As time has gone on, staff are getting tired and frustrated that their seems to be no end in sight.

The NHS is an incredibly resilient organisation, however the individuals within it are really struggling. People come in to work, and on the surface seem fine, but we recognise that deep down they are not. Accepting the current situation does not mean that we necessarily agree with it, but we are trying to manage it as best we can.

We also need to be careful not to project those things on to others either in the workplace or at home. Sometimes we need to accept that we can’t fix everything and that we have to accept a lower bar, but that doesn’t mean we agree with it.