Britain | Locum motives

The NHS has a lot of locums. It should listen to them

Many people do not want to work full-time for the NHS. With good reason

Junior doctor Jared Leggett puts on PPE (personal protective equipment) to visit a patient recovering from coronavirus on Ward C22 at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in Blackburn, north-west England on May 14, 2020, as national health service (NHS) staff in Britain fight the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by HANNAH MCKAY / POOL / AFP) (Photo by HANNAH MCKAY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The british television show “Casualty” must obey certain rules when it comes to on-screen carnage. Gore is permissible, but the camera may not linger on it in a “ghoulish” manner, says Paul Unwin, the show’s co-creator. Agony is allowed, although extended agony is not (a shot in which a man was impaled on a railing had to be trimmed). The show barely touches another painful issue: that of locum workers. “It can’t,” says Mr Unwin. Viewers would switch off if the characters changed constantly. “People like the familiar.”

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Locum motives”

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