Calm in the storm and decency in society

Leadership includes creating calm when all about you are agitated.

Leadership also includes Honesty and, to quote The Stoics, - Discipline, Fortitude, Courage, Clear Headedness, Selflessness and Sacrifice.

We have entered yet another period in which there are many issues to trouble us:

• Recruitment;

• Retention;

• Absence due to illness;

• Waiting lists;

• Patients with no patience;

• The cost of living;

• Fee per item pricing;

• Dental plan deployment, review and pricing;

• NHS targets;

• Litigation and liability;

• Performance and behaviour;

• The sheer relentlessness of work - day after day.

Perhaps we can also add, on a wider scale:

• Airport check ins;

• Disrupted train schedules;

• The supply of microchips and energy;

• Or any other of the countless depressing stories in the media.

I've been reminded recently that every single one of these is a "first-world problem", compared to starvation, poverty, subjugation, living in any war zone or the barbaric practice of deporting refugees to East Africa.

Nonetheless, you can't keep your team or your patients happy by telling them how lucky they are to live where we do or not be on Priti Patel's hit list.

We must stand for a set of values (including truth and decency) that are clearly no part of our current Government's philosophy.

Once more, this morning, I have to remind myself to stop moaning about how many emails I have, about how busy I am, about my full calendar - to count my blessings and to be "the beacon of light" for my family, my team, my clients and everyone else I bump into.