peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
Im interested to read the discussions around the NHS having worked in it for nearly 40 years. A society that cannot offer free health care is not one I would want to live in. Is the current NHS fit for purpose? No, but with that we have to define it’s purpose and what it should be doing. I worked in mental health when the big asylums were closing and in principle it was a sound idea. But community care well delivered is never a cheap option, and no matter what anyone says the prime reason for “modernisation “ in the NHS is saving money - it can be dressed up with all the management speak you like but that is and always has been the bottom line.
people are not widgets and it makes running it like a business very challenging. You only have to look at the private companies who have handed their contracts back as they can’t make it pay to see that. They tend to cherry pick the nicely boundaried services and the NHS are left to deal with the multiple pathology presentations with social issues that don’t nicely fit into a diagnostic box. The number of orthopaedic cases I have seen who had joint replacements in private hospitals which went wrong and were then referred into NHS services is huge. Also no emergency care in private so if things go belly up off you go from your comfy bed direct to a and e.
in the latter stages of my career I worked in modernisation quality and governance. An entire industry in itself - some bits essential, others not so much. CQC. - prime example of waste of money - if you go looking for a problem you will find it and indeed if for your organisations survival it is in your interests to do so. Co-ordinating CQC visits, getting all the info they ask for, getting staff to cover etc etc - the cost to a trust is phenomenal. They usually tell you what you already know - that there’s not enough staff and this threatens patient safety - well no [Poor language removed] Sherlock - this is what happens with years of under investment or investment in the wrong things - see above. So many reorganisations to save money - got to the stage where every November I had to reapply for jobs and see colleagues made redundant all in the name of modernisation. Same amount of work still there just less staff.
i was good at my job (just stating a fact here - not bragging) and worked many many more hours than I ever got paid for. In the end it broke me and many others like me who cared so much that it affected our mental health to see what is happening. Hence early retirement. There are lots of sides to this debate, I would say 80% of the people who work in the NHS feel the same.
sorry for the rant - can I still stay in your thread
I’ll be honest Val, I spent pretty much my whole career reviewing major and mega projects and getting rid of those that didn’t perform. I did exactly the same with the MOD in getting developments back on track. I worked with the Cabinet office and NAO to examine failing projects and felt that they will never change. I would have loved to spend four or five years in the NHS, a lot of senior people would no longer be there as the management seems just abysmal……of course now I’m retired and look on with sadness…..
. It was a bit like football management- only so many who got recycled and popped up in different positions having “left” others.
. No I haven’t seen it - I’ve only recently started joining in tbh, but I will certainly check it out.