Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Education And Debate

The secret life of the NHS

BMJ 2000; 320 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7247.1457 (Published 27 May 2000) Cite this as: BMJ 2000;320:1457

Rapid Response:

Secret life of NHS

Judy Jones1 report on the continuing clamping down on the givers of
bad news is disappointing after the promises of the Labour party.

When I was interviewing staff for my book on this 'secret life' in the NHS
I found that managers' stories were very similar to those of consutants.2
(I met one senior manager who lost his job after agreeing to what a very
persistent minister was asking for, and told the truth.)
If doctors knew more about the distress of managers, perhaps together they
could try to change this destructive climate. Would Judy Jones like next
to write a paper about managers?

Peter Bruggen
retired consultant psychiatrist

1 Jones Judy. The secret life of the NHS. BMJ 2000; 320: 1457-9.

2 Bruggen Peter. Who Cares? True stories of the NHS reforms. Charlbury, Oxfordshire: Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1997.

Competing interests: No competing interests

15 June 2000
Peter Bruggen