Margaret McCartney: Fighting for the NHS’s moral life
BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2822 (Published 23 May 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2822
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Thank you for this eloquently written article that describes exactly how I feel. I know many other colleagues who feel this way.
I am saddened by what we have allowed our profession to become. I am encouraged by the Juniour doctors strike and hope more doctors feel empowered to stand up for our profession.
We are our own saviours.
Competing interests: No competing interests
I strongly agree with the thrust of Dr McCartney's piece: it seems to me that 'objectives from above are turned into shackles' and that 'expertise and also common sense become lost in a sea of tick-box bureaucracy'.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Margaret McCartney: Fighting for the NHS’s moral life
Without autonomy doctors are not professionals.
Professional practice and contracted hours are mutually-exclusive phenomena.
The 'one doctor-one patient' relationship is dead, suffocated by regulation, economics and disinterest.
Resigning from the NHS some years ago, one hoped to salvage some independent care for patients via Choose and Book/insurance/self-pay.
Sadly, corporate medicine, regulated by the CQC, may soon put an end to autonomous practice in the private sector too.
I envisage spending my remaining medical life working for lucre, with minimal responsibility and oblivious of patient welfare when away.
If they are not my patients why should I care?
What will be the future for my bright undergraduate medics I wonder?
Jai Chitnavis
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Competing interests: No competing interests