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medpundit |
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Friday, February 21, 2003Numbers Watch, a British web site: Everyone (except the Chancer) knows someone who works in the NHS and is well aware of the demoralisation and despair that afflicts these dedicated people. In the NHS there are now eight managers for every ten nurses. No need to ask what they all do. They collect statistics and develop new and more creatively fraudulent ways of trying to demonstrate that Government targets are being met. [emphasis mine] It’s been my experience that, at least in medicine, the more managers (or administrators) there are, the higher the cost of doing business, and the less efficient the practice. Ask any doctor who’s had his practice bought by a hospital. Most describe their new practice as "hospital ruined". But governments interfere even more, at least in Britain. It seems that Welsh and English patients are treated differently, even when they attend the same hospital: Different waiting list targets set in London and Cardiff mean that the maximum waiting times for English and Welsh patients are different. In Wales, the target is that no one should wait more than 18 months for an orthopaedic operation. In England the target is currently 15 months and will drop to 12 months in March. In true bureaucratic form, those maximum waiting times are taken as the standard, rather than the limit: "The consequence is that routine Welsh patients are less likely to get their operation within a year than are patients in England. It is a big problem for us and we are desperately trying to get things resolved so the target times are the same. There is lot of goodwill and we are hopeful." Not surprisingly, the Welsh patients are none too happy: "We pay as much as our English counterparts towards the health service so we deserve parity. I think it is a disgrace I have to wait 18 months in pain for an operation while people in England attending the same hospital as me only have to wait about 12 months. I’m being discriminated against." posted by Sydney on 2/21/2003 05:50:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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