Des Spence comments that he still finds communication poor with long delays for letters etc. with the use of secretaries and his solution is to remove secretaries and get Consultants to do their own typing!! Is it the 1st of April?? I would like to know where the evidence is that 'most consultants can type as quick as they dictate' as that is certainly not my experience. If delays are long now they will only be worse by removing secretaries and getting Consultants to do the typing.
As many have already commented a medical secretary does far more than type letters but it seems to be only Consultants who appreciate the diversity of work they perform and who recognise that they are indispensable to the smooth running of the clinical team and dare I say the NHS. One only needs to have a secretary on leave to witness how everything grinds to a halt without them. By all means use technology and make progress but getting rid of medical secretaries and have consultants do secretarial work as well as medical work is not the answer.
Rapid Response:
Re: Doctors no longer need medical secretaries
Des Spence comments that he still finds communication poor with long delays for letters etc. with the use of secretaries and his solution is to remove secretaries and get Consultants to do their own typing!! Is it the 1st of April?? I would like to know where the evidence is that 'most consultants can type as quick as they dictate' as that is certainly not my experience. If delays are long now they will only be worse by removing secretaries and getting Consultants to do the typing.
As many have already commented a medical secretary does far more than type letters but it seems to be only Consultants who appreciate the diversity of work they perform and who recognise that they are indispensable to the smooth running of the clinical team and dare I say the NHS. One only needs to have a secretary on leave to witness how everything grinds to a halt without them. By all means use technology and make progress but getting rid of medical secretaries and have consultants do secretarial work as well as medical work is not the answer.
Competing interests: I have a medical secretary