BMJ 2003;326:656 ( 22 March )

Letters

Doctors and managers

    Agreeing objectives could help doctors and managers work well together
    "You just don't understand"
    Should we make managers more accountable to doctors?
    Problems in Dutch hospitals resemble those in British hospitals

Agreeing objectives could help doctors and managers work well together

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Doctors and managers obviously need to work together. To have two powerful groups not working together is likely to frustrate the efforts of both and to damage the service offered to patients. Why then is the relationship between doctors and managers often strained and currently perceived to be at a low ebb? Why is it that two groups, both protesting a desire to put patients at the centre of decision making, often find it difficult to find common ground?
 
(Credit: KEVIN NICHOLSON/BMJ)

Although doctors and managers apparently agree about the objectives of the NHS, the reality is that the views of the medical profession about its purpose are different from those of managers. This is not surprising given the different backgrounds of doctors and managers.

Doctors are trained in medicine; they tend to be numerate and are trained in the scientific method. They are socialised into a professional model that values . . . [Full text of this article]
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