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Dare one suggest that the press is just loosing faith in how to get a
new story out of the NHS. If it is all bad news, as it can seem at times,
where is the analysis, the words symptoms and cause still seem appropriate
here? There is no doubt that after 20 years of both Tory and Labour
underinvestment , together with the kind of global trade context for
further developing health as a product (1)we would expect to see a move in
the press towards this kind of discussion. However I would suggest that
reading your other articles, like the work on patient centred care, the
disillusion will not be materially assisted by changing funding systems.
When we manage to have enough staff on the ground to reduce the current
levels of stress,
when politicians stop experimenting with the system before any evidence is
forthcoming, and when we understand that the emotional impact of providing
health care effectively(2) requires as much attention as the development
and application of scientific evidence, we might begin to see the wood for
the trees.
Annabelle Mark
(1) Price D Pollock A Shaoul 1999 How the World Trade Organisation is
shaping domestic policies in health care.
The Lancet 354 pp 1889-1891
(2) Mark A 2001 Colouring the kaleidoscope - emotion in healthcare
organisation The Maureen Dixon Essay Series Number 3 Nuffield Trust London
Loosing faith in the evidence?
Dare one suggest that the press is just loosing faith in how to get a
new story out of the NHS. If it is all bad news, as it can seem at times,
where is the analysis, the words symptoms and cause still seem appropriate
here? There is no doubt that after 20 years of both Tory and Labour
underinvestment , together with the kind of global trade context for
further developing health as a product (1)we would expect to see a move in
the press towards this kind of discussion. However I would suggest that
reading your other articles, like the work on patient centred care, the
disillusion will not be materially assisted by changing funding systems.
When we manage to have enough staff on the ground to reduce the current
levels of stress,
when politicians stop experimenting with the system before any evidence is
forthcoming, and when we understand that the emotional impact of providing
health care effectively(2) requires as much attention as the development
and application of scientific evidence, we might begin to see the wood for
the trees.
Annabelle Mark
(1) Price D Pollock A Shaoul 1999 How the World Trade Organisation is
shaping domestic policies in health care.
The Lancet 354 pp 1889-1891
(2) Mark A 2001 Colouring the kaleidoscope - emotion in healthcare
organisation The Maureen Dixon Essay Series Number 3 Nuffield Trust London
Competing interests: No competing interests