M A Auldin

A complex matter A newspaper leading a ‘commission for NHS reform’ (as if we’ve not had enough reform in the last 30 yrs) An ombudsman (whose job of course is to examine only cases where things appear to have gone wrong) firing a salvo of attacks on senior doctors for their culture, actions & inactions. Yet all around me I see doctors working collaboratively with nurses, AHPs, administrators to keep patients safe in an ever stressed & over burdened service. No room for complacency but much of the safety in the NHS is despite the system not because of it. It is because of senior staff not despite them. Senior doctors, as the main decision makers in the vast majority of clinical settings, take on a burden of responsibility many others do not. They fight daily to deliver best care for individuals & to improve patient safety systemically. Many junior doctors look above & for a multitude of reasons don’t like what they see & are moving on elsewhere. And yes of course there will be poor performance & poor performers among senior doctors which we must seek to identify & improve but vilifying an entire senior layer of a profession when the system is at a breaking point is perhaps missing the point. thetimes.co.uk/article/toxic…