Against the odds
Austin Thomas, Lead Nurse for the Great British Paralympics Team at London 2012, inspired Congress delegates in a keynote speech about his remarkable life and career. Austin, who has spent 40 years working with people with disabilities in sport, became a nurse purely by chance after a judo accident led him to being admitted to a spinal injuries unit.
Fascinated by the determination of fellow patients, he became involved in his very first Paralympics in 1984 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. “Things have moved on quite considerably since then,” he said. “I was among just two nurses working as part of a team of seven and my medical kit consisted of a mop, bucket, tea tin and plasters.”
Now, of course, things are much more sophisticated with specialist medical staff recruited to focus on the physical and psychological needs of athletes with a huge range of complex needs.
But perhaps the bigger change has been in people’s perception of disability and attitudes towards the Paralympics during the course of Austin’s nursing career. “Back in 1984 the games might attract a handful of spectators, mostly drawn from competitors’ friends and family,” he said. “Compare that to last year when tickets to events were sold out. The progress has been extraordinary.”
Moving on to his own experiences of living with a disability, Austin described in detail how he survived a serious motorbike accident 10 years ago. The 90 mile per hour impact left him on the brink of death. “I shouldn’t be here,” Austin confessed.
The accident and the care received since has given him a unique insight into nursing from a patient’s perspective. “I went from receiving high tech individualised care to being treated on a ward. The sense of abandonment was immense. I was all of a sudden very alone.”
Austin lost four stone in six weeks and describes himself as “dying of starvation” in an NHS hospital. He doesn’t lay the blame at the feet of nurses but instead points the finger to a system under strain.
“I’ve had 30 operations since the crash and experienced the very best and worst of nursing care. I would put nurses into three categories. Ten per cent are instinctively good. Ten per cent are instinctively bad. And 80 per cent are indifferent. They’re suffering from care fatigue and their morale has been eroded. They’re too overwhelmed to raise a smile.”
Austin finished by reading a poem he had written to nurses delivering his care. He ended with the following lines to a standing ovation from the Congress floor: “At times I felt you let me down, and the profession I love too. But how are you to care for me, when no one cares for you.”
