American public buildings proudly display portraits of their president, Che Guevara is daubed on walls all over Cuba, and Kim Jong-Il’s image is considered sacred in North Korea.
Now hospitals across England have Andrew Lansley.
It has emerged that a video of the health secretary’s face is being played on a loop to bed-bound patients in hospitals throughout the NHS.
The video reminds patients that their care “really matters to [him]” and encourages them to thank the staff who look after them. The message can only be deactivated through registration.
Charming though the health secretary is, the omnipresence of his image hasn’t been impressing some patients.
Lansley boasted on the Today programme that “one constituent told me their baby's first experience of life was to see me on a monitor”.
He added that the constituent had been unnerved, but that he “wasn't sure about the baby.”
Patient groups have suggested that the initiative may be a “cynical government ruse to speed up discharge of patients” as they scramble to escape the “permanent misery” of the message.
Geoff Martin, chairman of the group Health Emergency said that "The last thing anyone recovering from surgery or illness needs is the health secretary on a permanent loop like some pro-privatisation big brother."
The health secretary has however maintained that the message is “useful”.
Comments
Be the first to comment on this article!