Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHS
George Kuchanny
Recent activity
Comments (94)
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Comment on: Government suffers NHS bill defeat
So Mike has gone to Australia eh? I bet he is too busy fighting crocs and shooing off dunny spiders to log on here and let us all know how it is down under :)
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Comment on: Lansley’s experiment with the NHS must never be repeated
Thanks tinkerbell - I like your perspective. We shall come out of this with our free at point of delivery service. The NHS will survive but it will deliver a bit differently that is all. We have had a multi-tier healthcare dependant on wealth for a very long time and it is still with us. Harley Street consultation followed by being whisked away to any part of the world where the very best intervention by a world renowned surgeon/medic/whatever at the top of his/her game is the perogative of the obscenely rich. But I do know what you mean here. For most of us mere mortals healthcare will definitely remain free at point of delivery. Thanks again for not tying me up to the dreaded ducking stool!
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Comment on: Lansley’s experiment with the NHS must never be repeated
I have a different view of Lansley's modernisation of the NHS. It will prove to have saved it. Some of you dear commenters may be aghast at such a controversial statement. Let us not mince words. Some may even cry sedition! George is clearly a witch and needs to be dunked. Anyway, before I meet my fate strapped firmly to a stool here is my explanation. Most of you clearly do not work in those sections of the NHS where the culture is almost completely corrupt. Luckily my own local Trust is not one of these. However, I have experience of one such Trust. Nothing and I do mean nothing, touches this culture that is firmly supported from Trust HQ. No amount of concerns raised by staff at all levels. No consultant quitting in disgust, no practically armed assault on ivory towers by the front line staff on very poor staffing levels. All complaints by patients or relatives of the deceased are turned aside with not a hair turned at the terrifyingly horrible stories presented. Just another round of recruitment to augment the pen pushers who are ‘clever’ in the worst sense of the word to write new doges and a new carpet for Trust HQ is the order of the day. Been going on for decades while people die, lacking simple interventions, or worse, as the result of inappropriate or foolhardy interventions and whistle-blowers are scapegoated some who even end up with destroyed careers. Nothing has touched these pockets of poor culture. No legal constraint, no moral constraint, no concern about staff morale. Lansley’s modernisation will. Sometimes if a structure is very rotten in parts it has to be bulldozed. Those who operate (exist or live) in the culturally sound parts of the structure are sorely disenfranchised by the demolition. But they do not live in the rotten part and see the spread gradually making the entire structure unsafe. Be of good cheer dear readers. In five years a rather better structure will emerge. A structure within which student nurses as well as consultants will be able to raise concerns and be heard. Where good working practice is rewarded not penalised. Where whistle blowing is no longer called that. The NHS will survive and be the better for it. Culture trumps funding and the good intent of the majority any day of the week.
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Comment on: "Beware the implications for nurses of assisted dying law"
Thanks for the article and most especially thank you Sally for your comment.
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Comment on: Too many nurse leaders in 'quasi-medical' roles, says prominent doc
The problem here is that a good nurse may not make a good manager - the skills are not interchageable even though knowing what you are managing may help. I would sincerely not like to be nursed by many a manager I know in my hour of need - a good manager may not be a good nurse (but I bet a crap manager would be even worse!)
