It’s a truth universally acknowledged that staff get sick. But when vital public meetings and essential services grind to a halt because someone has a cold, we have to ask: where are the back-ups?
I’ve had first hand awareness of how people are left high and dry and often at the last minute. First it was a friend whose father needed urgent assessment to get additional carers due to his health. This one sickened me, because it’s someone with a terminal condition and who was let down by a system when in need. Today I found out that a friend’s scan was cancelled on Friday; someone who has had a life threatening DVT in November. Words fail me…
Picture it: the lifeboat rescue team can’t set sail. Why? Pilot off sick. Fire brigade? Half the crew down with flu. Yes, staff are human. They catch colds. They need rest. That part isn’t the issue. The issue is a system that appears to rely on one person and one person only. If that individual isn’t there, everything stops. That’s not resilience. That’s a single point of failure.
Now think about how other critical systems are designed. Aircraft do not rely on one system, one control, or one pilot. They are built with layers of back-ups: duplicate hydraulics, redundant electrics, cross-checked navigation systems, and trained crew who can take over when needed. The entire design assumes something will go wrong at some point, so continuity is built in from the start.
And here’s the awkward question nobody seems to want to ask: why can’t a manager step in?
If leadership roles are about oversight, accountability, and higher pay for greater responsibility, surely that includes the ability to cover core functions when needed. If a meeting can’t go ahead because one operational staff member is unwell, what exactly is the management layer there for in that moment?
This is where the conversation about structure becomes unavoidable. It’s not just about having more people. It’s about having the right people, trained in the correct way, with enough overlap in skills to keep services running. Cross-training, shadowing, and practical cover plans are not extravagant extras. They’re basic operational sense.
And yes, it may also mean looking at where the money goes. If senior roles command senior salaries, the public might reasonably expect a senior level of flexibility and hands-on capability when it matters.
Back-up plans aren’t a luxury. They’re the difference between a service that pauses briefly and one that simply stops.
The public doesn’t expect perfection. They do expect continuity. Until then, we’re left with the image of that lifeboat, crew ready, sea waiting, and no one at the helm because the only person who can steer happens to be off sick.
