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Editorial
17 December 2021
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We rely on the sum of your optimism, resourcefulness, connectedness and self-care

By Peter Lees

FMLM Chief Executive

Resilience: the ability of a substance to return to its usual shape after being bent, stretched, or pressed (to which I would add ‘pummelled’).

I have been in awe of many things during the pandemic but the resilience of so many is incredible and does not get the attention or the accolade it deserves. I shudder to think where the health of the nation would be without the relentless efforts of so many and at all levels. The contribution of the front line is lauded publicly, and justifiably so, but leaders throughout healthcare are experiencing unprecedented pressures while facing intense scrutiny at every juncture; if only those all-knowing scrutineers understood the nature of complexity where the right course of action can only be determined in hindsight, where changing tack is often the right thing to do and not a U-turn. If you have eight minutes, Dave Snowden sums it up beautifully.

I found this secreted within my database of favourite quotes (source unknown): 

Resilience = optimism x resourcefulness x connectedness x self-care

The past couple of years have obviously challenged all the components in this equation. It has been an enormous privilege for FMLM to work with many clinical leaders over that time and see optimism and resourcefulness in the face of adversity. Where they have found that, I don’t know, but thank goodness they have. Thank goodness they have kept going when others would have thrown in the towel. In a modest way FMLM, with our excellent professional associates, have tried to support all elements of the equation and we hope to have been of some help at this time, but also in the future.

Well-deserved respite over Christmas and New Year looks likely to be short at best and messages of goodwill may feel hollow. Nonetheless, all of us at FMLM salute your leadership, resilience and sheer hard graft. Thank you and we pray that 2022 will be much kinder “to you and all mankind”.

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