David Oliver: Caring about language doesn't mean we can't care

Back in February, the Daily Telegraph ’s Celia Walden used her column to mock the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) style guide on the correct terminology and formats to use in nursing communications.12 The piece was ostensibly light hearted, its tone gently ribbing what Walden saw as the RCN’s po-faced attitude. But it wasn’t hard to construe the meaning behind the joke—namely, that we’ve become far too obsessed with “woke” language and identity politics, that it’s distracting and detracting from the vital work of clinical care, and that staff have better things to worry about than putting their foot in it or getting into …