Over the last twelve months there has been an increase in the number of published cases critical of the poor standard of care provided by the NHS and other care providers, particularly in relation to the young, old and vulnerable.

As someone who has a mother with dementia I have personally experienced incidents where care, compassionate and a degree of empathy was distinctly lacking, and I would like to say this was in the minority, but it wasn’t. My family and I frequently encountering more dismissive attitudes amongst some in the medical professional that has compounded an already distressing and stressful situation.

No-one denies that the nursing, caring and medical professions are difficult, demanding and challenging roles to undertake with competing demands made on individuals time and skills, however when individuals are feeling vulnerable and in some cases extremely frightened it’s not what you do but the way you do it that can make all the difference in the world.

In the 1950’s and 60’s the nursing & medical professions started to change due to developments in healthcare, a 1964 report by Sir Henry Platt commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) proposed two levels of nursing training – registered and enrolled, whilst the implementation of the GP’s charter in 1966 and the Salmon report which made recommendations to training the hierarchical nursing structure and providing access to management training for senior nurses.

One nurse who qualified in 1963 told the Nursing Times in 2008 ‘The junior nurses stuck to their jobs, which were the more menial jobs – doing the bedpans, pressure area care, taking temperature and the vital signs, serving meals, cleaning patients’ lockers – but these were the jobs that gave us a lot of patient contact’. Whilst another nurse who qualified in 1968 stated ‘I think we had much better training then. It was different because we were far more patient-orientated…I feel that everything now has got more secretarial and it’s all about notes and going to meetings’.

In the race to become professional, as one definition provided by Merriam-Webster as ‘characterised by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession’, the vocational element seems to have been thrown out with bath water, 'vocation' as described by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘a person’s employment or main occupation, especially regarded as worth and requiring dedication, a trade or profession’.

Perhaps for far too long our educational system has only recognised two routes for training and development, professional and vocational training. Until recently many young people have been steered towards academic achievement by attending University as the only means of validating the individuals knowledge skills and abilities, when they may well not be suited to that journey. Vocational training, in the form of apprenticeships, became seen as second class training for those deemed not to show the ability academically with no middle ground being provided.

This has resulted in large numbers of University graduates who are unable to seek employment with the view now being taken to increase vocational training opportunities. But what has been forgotten is that individuals cannot be so easily compartmentalised. What of individuals who are academically gifted but derive a great deal of satisfaction and fulfilment from a ‘vocational’ career or those who may not fit in because their IQ is not at the required standard but are exceptionally gifted in other ways.

For those of us who have roles or/and responsibilities towards nurturing, guiding, supporting and advising young people in preparing for the world of work & life we need to be mindful of how our own ideas of the what the ‘right choices’ are based on our perceptions, biases and experiences which may not be particularly helpful or relevant in the 21st century.

There is also a time and a place for league tables & performance indicators as a means of measuring outcomes but organisations 'human resources' are firslty human and that part of the equation seems to be sadly missing when developng individuals be it in the classroom, lecture theatre or workplace.

The outcome , I believe, being individuals fulfilling roles they are not ‘dedicated’ to and may not be able to display the degree or care, empathy and compassion their role requires. Alternatively, highly succcessful achievers who are unhappy individuals, who equate success to the next step up the ladder and manage their stafff in a highly competitve and bullying environment. Who suffers? Everyone.