Death by a Thousand Changes
It's 2006 and our government has thrown enormous amounts of money to "solve" the NHS' problems. The trouble is that near the top of the problem list, is the fact that NHS management skills are generally not very good. Giving poor managers lots and lots (and I mean LOTS) of additional cash is like trying to fill up a leaky bucket by pouring in more water and hoping that you can fill it faster than it is gushing out of the holes.
We're now in the early stages of panic. The money has been poured in and the results have been underwhelming. Now the money is running out and all the chosen metrics: waiting times, productivity, are moving in the wrong direction (i.e. back to where they were). Time to micro manage and decide policy half way through a speech in parliament.
I feel like a sheep in dire need of a collie. One that will gather us all up and at least get us running in one direction. Preferably the right one at that.
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1 comment:
This really winds me up.
It's always easy to generalise about NHS managers - we're an easy target as we can't answer back en masse as doctors can. Most of us work damn hard and are bloody good at our jobs.
I'm sure you would get upset fairly quickly if I made the sweeping generalisation that "Most GP's are poor." You would also get upset if I showed you absolutely no respect.
Start giving NHS managers who are set impossible tasks with the tiny amounts of resources that actually filter down for their use a little bit of credit for what they do manage to acheive under extremely difficult circumstances.
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