Author: Alex Harlequin

A personal experience yesterday reminded me of another overlooked kind of key worker, and inspired me to write this post.

Behind the scenes of hospitals and pharmacies, we have the people who work daily to make medicines, equipment and medical nutrition for patients. For every product that is dispensed from a pharmacy, there have been key workers who strived to create it, package it and send it out. And in these times, that must be more difficult a job than ever, as are most.

One area of this close to my heart is medical nutrition; specifically medical food that can only get to patients via a prescription. And I’m not talking about gluten-free products which are now a common sight in supermarkets—I’m talking about much more specialised food.

I don’t know how many medical conditions there are that require this, but I have PKU, which requires an extremely restricted low protein diet. Various companies make low protein bread, pasta, flour, and various other foods, for which there is no commercial alternative, which are a necessary staple of our diet.

Yesterday I checked up on my first prescription request since the lockdown, and encountered a problem with my pharmacy being unable to get what I needed from the wholesaler. When my mum and I went to the website of the company who manufactures the food, we found a detailed statement on their current situation, including the following:

“We have several people within the business trained in the area of baking to allow us cover should we need it.”

“Current classifications describe the team here at Firstplay as ‘key workers’ so we continue to work hard to provide the low protein community with low protein foods, low protein fresh breads & protein substitutes as well as maintaining our excellent customer service.  We have recruited a new member of staff to help us increase stock levels and to allow the business to maintain our usual service levels to customers, wholesalers & chemists.”

“We fully appreciate obtaining low protein food products is difficult at the best of times so if anyone has any concerns with obtaining the products of Promin, Taranis or Metax please get in touch with us.”

“We’re also ramping up the production of the Promin brand products to ensure we have plenty of stock for the coming weeks which can be distributed either in house or used for wholesale export orders.”

When I filled in an online form to ask for help, someone replied to me within half an hour.

These essential people are working so hard and most people don’t even know they exist; yet without them, people with my condition would be going without food necessary to sustain a diet that prevents brain damage. They, and manufacturers of all necessary medical supplies, deserve a lot more recognition.

My mum is a biomedical scientist, and finds it frustrating that even now, when key workers are being appreciated and recognised more, that her field is still being overlooked.

When people talk about the NHS, the emphasis is always on doctors and nurses—who, while playing such a vital role, risking their lives on the front line and are definitely worthy of that recognition, are not the only kinds of NHS workers. Nor are research scientists the only medical scientists, yet when ‘the scientists’ are referenced, it’s always the research scientists who are meant.

Every day, biomedical scientists keep hospitals running through crucial laboratory work—diagnosing, monitoring treatments, matching for blood transfusions. And yet they’re still overlooked—by the media; by the public; by schools and supermarkets. The Institute of Biomedical Science had to release a letter stating that biomedical scientists are key workers so some could get access to education for their children and NHS shopping hours.

So next time you think about key workers—next time you clap for the NHS on Thursday evenings—remember there’s more to healthcare than doctors, nurses and research.

And if you know of other key worker roles whose fields are not yet widely recognised/appreciated, please let me know so I can do a post for them.