Global Warning

Theodore Dalrymple

Wednesday, 17th September 2008

My one regret at having retired from the National Health Service is that I no longer receive official circulars.

My one regret at having retired from the National Health Service is that I no longer receive official circulars. I used for a time to derive a small secondary income from publishing them; and such was their idiocy that very little commentary on my part was required. They spoke for themselves; it was money for old rope.

I am glad to say, however, that old friends keep me in touch with Gogolio-Kafkaesque-Orwellian developments in Europe’s biggest employer (now that the Gulag is no more). One of them, a senior doctor, recently passed on to me an email written about him by someone rejoicing in the title of Lead Nurse Manager, sent to her superior, the Modern Matron (it is typical of the temper, and increasingly the biology, of the times that the Matron should be male), complaining that he had twice refused to remove his cufflinks, contrary to Department of Health policy and instructions with regard to these death-dealing sartorial accoutrements.

My friend had the email from the medical director, who had it from the Modern Matron, who had it from the Lead Nurse Manager, who had ordered two members of staff, a ward clerk and a junior nurse, to ask him to take off his cufflinks. The Medical Director informed him that the Modern Matron had told him that he, the Modern Matron, reported directly to the Department of Health, and asked the Medical Director to inform the miscreant doctor of this fact.

Six members of the hospital staff, therefore, had devoted time to this important matter: probably enough in aggregate to save a life or two, and certainly enough to relieve a little suffering. I am not sufficiently au fait with the procedures of the Department of Health to know how many of their staff would devote their consideration to this matter; but I am at least morally certain that they would not otherwise have been better employed, which is at least a consolation.

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timothy

September 19th, 2008 12:14pm Report this comment

Theo - you rock. Or to use your exceptional English; you have truth by the jugular and you allow its gradual breathe to surface for all to see.
I am not in medicine, [ sorry medication ] I am involved in Education. I used to be a teacher but the American trainer [ from which all this nonsense emanates ] at my recent work[sic]shop regaled me with the nuances of differentiation.
The saddest thing about this state of affairs is how much young professionals pay lip service to it.
I am a trainer and differentiated. But I don't know I am. Please discuss.

Chris Ashton

September 19th, 2008 1:48pm Report this comment

You're better off out of it mate. We all are. The NHS is a third world entity.

Kpar

September 20th, 2008 2:24am Report this comment

Timothy,

Speaking from the other side of the pond, I assure you that "all this nonsense" does not necessarily emanate from here- which is not to say we don't have our problems. We on the right here in the USA view with horror the UK's capitulation to socialized medicine, and greatly fear the destruction of the world's greatest medical system by our own dimocrats.

Yes, almost any trainer in any field from the USA is likely to be a lefty loonie, because the folks who decide who to invite are more interested in promoting their own agenda than in showing what works.

God Bless Lady Thatcher and Ronald Reagan- both interested in results, rather than cant.

Do something!

September 20th, 2008 10:53am Report this comment

One wonders why on earth, we who are on the rational side of this garbage have allowed it to proliferate.

Something is the matter with us. Laziness. Do nothing - then expect more of the same.

Do we think we are so few that we cannot make a difference? It takes 5 minutes to write a letter or send an email protesting every time we encounter garbage and even 50-100 protests would help towards eliminating it.

Sara Waterson

September 29th, 2008 7:39pm Report this comment

The idiocy and myopia of the NHS Management is so engrained, it's impossible to get to grips with it.

I recently had a fairly minor but entirely necessary sinus operation - until I had it I was incapacitated. Our local NHS Trust has conceived the wonderful notion that operations are scheduled according to surgeon slots, whether there is a bed available or not. Busy surgeons, anesthetists and fullly trained theatre staff therefore come in to work in the hope they will be able to use their skills and their well-paid time. Often they cannot, since there is no bed available for the waiting patient - this happed to me, and the staff were so mad they told me how often it happens.

The fact the hospital is the main - indeed only - A&E over a very wide area, and that a lot of wards have been closed, only exacerbates this situation of course: A&E 'victims', often little old ladies who have fallen over and live on their own, take priority. The chronically sick like myself - having what was laughingly referred to as 'elective surgery'! - must be pushed to the back of the queue.

Sympathy for the busy professional and the working or even stay-at-home mum, who have all had to re-schedule work and family committments for their operation, seems entirely lacking in the Management; the hospital is of course run for their convenience and no-one else's. So long as every bed is full at every moment, that's all that counts.

It's not they who have to bear the brunt of the patients' fury and distress, of course - it's the staff who have to break the news that one is being sent home un-doctored, and will have to psych oneself up again, re-make all the arrangements and pay the taxi fares all over again. Maybe more than once... Yes, next time I went in I was again told there was no bed....

Since then I've heard of numerous people who've had the same experience. the waste of Surgeons' time is a scandal.

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