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Editor - No. Care has not always been patient-centred. (1) It still
isn’t. Why? Mainly because human nature is universal and competition for
the glittering prizes in medicine is often ruthless.
Shopping a colleague is the worst crime. Rather patients die than
point out dangerous practice. Disclosure could destroy careers and put
Trust funding at risk. Provide only MMR vaccinations. Never mind that this
may leave some children completely unprotected. Provide flu jabs on a
single day of the week, though many patients may be unable to get to the
surgery on that day. Open surgeries between 9am and 5pm only although this
suits only the unemployed and retired.
Require people to put on a nightgown that only ties at the back.
Ignore every guideline that extols the importance of preserving patients’
dignity and privacy. Dismiss limitations patients may place on consent to
a procedure. After all, they can’t know their best interests. Don’t wash
hands between touching patients. Too much trouble. Rather accept a 1 in 10
rate of hospital acquired infection as unavoidable. Adopt an opt-out
approach to student training. Seeking permission might reduce teaching
opportunities.
Organisation and staff-centred care is as much about attitude,
culture and personal priorities as lack of time; really the only culprit
acceptable to the profession. Of course, it a minority who offend in some
or all of these ways. But sadly in the 21st century, they increasingly
tarnish the image of the whole of medicine.
Roger M. Goss
Director - Patient Concern
(1) Smith R. Editor’s choice Doctors and patients: flying apart? BMJ
2001; 323: (20 October)
Flying apart? Have they ever been together?
Editor - No. Care has not always been patient-centred. (1) It still
isn’t. Why? Mainly because human nature is universal and competition for
the glittering prizes in medicine is often ruthless.
Shopping a colleague is the worst crime. Rather patients die than
point out dangerous practice. Disclosure could destroy careers and put
Trust funding at risk. Provide only MMR vaccinations. Never mind that this
may leave some children completely unprotected. Provide flu jabs on a
single day of the week, though many patients may be unable to get to the
surgery on that day. Open surgeries between 9am and 5pm only although this
suits only the unemployed and retired.
Require people to put on a nightgown that only ties at the back.
Ignore every guideline that extols the importance of preserving patients’
dignity and privacy. Dismiss limitations patients may place on consent to
a procedure. After all, they can’t know their best interests. Don’t wash
hands between touching patients. Too much trouble. Rather accept a 1 in 10
rate of hospital acquired infection as unavoidable. Adopt an opt-out
approach to student training. Seeking permission might reduce teaching
opportunities.
Organisation and staff-centred care is as much about attitude,
culture and personal priorities as lack of time; really the only culprit
acceptable to the profession. Of course, it a minority who offend in some
or all of these ways. But sadly in the 21st century, they increasingly
tarnish the image of the whole of medicine.
Roger M. Goss
Director - Patient Concern
(1) Smith R. Editor’s choice Doctors and patients: flying apart? BMJ
2001; 323: (20 October)
Competing interests: No competing interests