Dame Judi Dench has expressed her disappointment about the treatment of striking NHS staff
(Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images fo)Dame Judi Dench has voiced her frustration on behalf of striking NHS staff, saying they have been forgotten following their widely-lauded efforts during the Covid pandemic.
The Oscar-winning actress, 88, will soon be seen starring alongside Jennifer Saunders and Bally Gill in Allelujah, a film adaptation of Alan Bennett’s 2018 play of the same name which is set in a geriatric ward.
Allelujah is described by The Guardian as being “most conspicuously about the NHS,” but also “it’s a film about social care: what happens when pressure on hospital beds means people are discharged too soon, to inadequate accommodation”.
Its release on March 17 comes at a poignant time for the NHS, which is marking its 75 anniversary this summer.
The film was shot in 2021 while the UK and the rest of the world were still gripped by the pandemic, NHS workers were hailed as heroes, and were clapped for each Thursday by people on their doorsteps in recognition.
While clapping was acknowledged as a nice gesture at the time, it didn’t do anything tangible to help the NHS, which was visibly on its knees and in desperate need of more money and resources.
Two years on, NHS workers have staged strikes calling for increased pay and better working conditions – the biggest strike action in the healthcare provider’s history.
While Allelujah was filming, Dench expressed her hope to The Guardian that “maybe those barriers [between medical and social care] have broken down a bit during Covid. I hope they have. So perhaps a very good thing will come out of it.”
She previously said the film was about the “debt we owe” NHS workers.
More recently, she told the publication: “We willingly clapped on our doorsteps our appreciation for the NHS, as they were doing a remarkable job. That seems to have been a bit forgotten. And look at the position they are in now, having to strike for more money.”
