As modern political quotes go, it's hard to think of many more enduring than Nigel Lawson's description of the NHS as "the nearest thing the English have to a religion." In the past two weekends, Jeremy Hunt has had the truth of it sharply brought home to him.
The weekend before last, NHS staff reacted to government calls for more weekend services which they felt misrepresented doctors and portrayed them as lazy. They tweeted selfies and messages from their workplaces, reminding the public and the health secretary that #ImInWorkJeremy.
Yesterday, another campaigning hashtag backed by doctors found its way into the UK's top trending list. #WeNeedToTalkAboutJeremy exploded on to British timelines at 8pm last night, with about 11,300 tweets in its first hour. The hashtag centred around an open letter, purporting to be from 10 doctors, which criticises Hunt for what it calls "a track record of bad decisions, poor policy and failure to engage with professionals," accusing him of having "a non-existent understanding of what happens 'on the shop floor'" of the NHS and "no credible plans for addressing the GP workforce crisis." This was penned after a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in Hunt was not taken up by the government.#ImInWorkJeremy on a Saturday night pic.twitter.com/jYhs5YXQiF — Andrea Reynolds (@and3r) July 18, 2015
The hashtag featured everything you'd expect from a left-wing Twitter campaign in 2015, from inspirational quotes:
Seeing a lot of Aneurin Bevan being quoted this evening. This is my favourite. #weneedtotalkaboutjeremy#NHSpic.twitter.com/XzvdZ8Bn6C
— Dr Anjali Mahto (@DrAnjaliMahto) July 26, 2015
To infographics:
#weneedtotalkaboutjeremy NHS needs money for more staff, not an enforced 24/7 contract. pic.twitter.com/xjKD2gJEeT — Hugh Harvey (@DrHughHarvey) July 26, 2015And was boosted by influential campaigner Harry Leslie Smith
#weneedtotalkaboutjeremy b/c he doesn't know or care about what life was like for the many before the NHS but I do pic.twitter.com/bNNrI0BXyD
— Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) July 26, 2015
Guardian food writer Jack Monroe and other lefty big names. The general tone? Leave us alone, Jeremy: you don't know what you're talking about:
Teaching should be led by teachers, social work by social workers, and health care by doctors, nurses and AHPs. #WeNeedToTalkAboutJeremy
— Trisha Greenhalgh (@trishgreenhalgh) July 26, 2015
(Not everyone was impressed, though)
I thought Saturday night was 'pointless left-wing hashtag campaign night' #weneedtotalkaboutjeremyIt was helped on its way by "big up the NHS," a blog run by a doctor and designed to counter negative media portrayals of the health service. Its twitter account has about 46,000 followers, and helped to organise the hashtag campaign:
— General Boles (@GeneralBoles) July 26, 2015
I would be really grateful for as many RTs of this as possible BEFORE we start #weneedtotalkaboutjeremy at 8pm. pic.twitter.com/dmsBRKzO3A
— Big up the NHS (@butNHS) July 26, 2015
National Health Action, a political party, also joined in—they have over 67,000 followers—as did the British Medical Association, with around 53,000. The involvement of large, legitimate organisations in this sort of online agitation suggests that the pro-NHS lobby is dug in for a long siege, and is ready to fight its corner regardless of what Hunt throws at it.
"So what?" you might reasonably ask. Ed Miliband was popular on Twitter (remember #Milifandom?) and it didn't do him much good.
To some extent that's fair, but the eyecatching nature of the #ImInWorkJeremy selfies and the ease with which pro-NHS groups were last night able to confect a Twitterstorm should give the Department of Health pause for thought. Yes, the NHS is an emotive topic which ranks highly on voters' list of concerns anyway, but pro-NHS activists and doctors haven't missed a chance to capitalise on that. To see what I mean, just compare the success of those campaigns to the #SaveLegalAid hashtag doing the rounds today as barristers begin strikes to protest government cuts; the lawyers had hit just 75 tweets per hour as of 9.30 this morning.
Government policy can't—and generally shouldn't—be derailed by Twitter activism alone. But at the very least Britain's doctors and their champions have shown their opinions can't be ignored. If Hunt wants to see all his plans fulfilled, he should work harder to get them onside.
