Personally, 2023 is looking up.
There is so much to be concerned about. The fightback by the unions is meeting resistance from the govt, but the public, who largely know the score and scoff at what the media feeds them, are still supportive of industrial action. The ongoing energy crisis bites hard, but thankfully January has been wet and mild here. My teeth haven’t chattered once. The govt, under Sunak are still unpopular, and come the next GE, a significant number of safe Tory seats will be made marginal, while marginal Tory seats could easily see the removal of 130 sitting Tory MPs, should the govt be compelled to go to the nation. In truth, they’ll take this parliament full term, but I digress.
In 2020, deep into lockdown, and before the Furlough scheme was extended, my employer made me redundant. I have learned since, this was inevitable Covid or no Covid. After 25 years of service I lived on my redundancy money, hoping that a new opportunity would arise. When my finances fell below the threshold, I reluctantly claimed for Universal Credit, and going into 2022, I was jobless and thoroughly depressed. Things began to look up when I was invited to interview for a position in the NHS. What I was not prepared for was the drawn out recruiting process after I received my conditional offer. Gathering references proved to be tricky, while dealing with people still working from home. There are many reasons why, which I won’t go into here, but days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and progress was glacial.
Right at the point I had convinced myself all was lost, and was about to look elsewhere, I got notification that my conditional offer had turned formal, and I should arrange a start date with my new line manager. Tracking him down for a conversation also took weeks, and eventually I had to arrange a start date with HR acting as go-between.
So the upshot is that I start my new job this coming Monday. I still find it hard to believe that I’m once again going to work after nearly 3 years of inactivity, and 2 and a half years of unemployment. It’s been a strange time.
I go into a situation where they are crying out for staff across the board. I have a feeling I’ll be hitting the ground running, and I hope I can meet their expectations. It’s not a caregiving role, but I believe the department I’m joining is vital for the smooth running of the hospital.
Anyway, I’m just grateful that this opportunity has finally come my way, and I can earn a living wage again.