Merry Christmas to one and all

The year is finishing as it started, with more incompetence from the Department of Health, as yet more personal data has been lost by NHS Trusts around the country. The Department of Health cannot have it both ways as usual, they must shoulder some of the responsibility for the mess that they have created beneath them.

The new MMC website has been launched, for some reason they think that putting shit in neat packages magically turns the shit into good policy, it's a great shame for trainee doctors that this isn't the case; rather the reverse seems to be true, as the more money that is wasted on pretty packages the less money is left over the actually spend on the nuts and bolts of training. Read this and vomit:

"Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) is making radical changes to postgraduate medical education with the aim of bringing more structure into the career path for doctors and better training towards the very best care for patients."

One wonders how completely demoralising a generation by rushing through training reform far too quickly is going to be good for patients in either the short or the long term. MMC is a classic example of the DoH's complete lack of skill in making good policy, in fact the evidence from the Health Committee of late has shown how the DoH has a bunch of idiotic cretins making the policy who are completely out of touch with the clinicians on the ground. The MMC group had no one with a background in clinical medicine in the end, no wonder it was completely detached from reality.

The DoH has been found to have breached the Data Protection Act by the ICO, after last year's leakage of applicants' information during MTAS 2007. It's a shame that the pathetic punishment by the ICO consists of just a written warning and the DoH having to respect the law in the future, surely they should be punished properly for ignoring the law last year? That would be too much like accountability for the DoH though, and if they were accountable for their mistakes they would probably have no employees left by now.

Anyways a Merry Christmas to one and all, and a happy new year while I'm at it. Seasons greetings to Dr Grumble who does not quite see why so much money is being spent on computers, to Dr Rant who does not see the point in extending GP's opening hours, to the Angry Medic who details the impotence and malignant nature of 'Dr P' who has sunk lower than most with some rather vindictive lies (it seems some people have to resort to rather desperate tactics when logical argument has failed them), to Dr Ray who seems rather happy for a pleasant change, to Front Point who has been consistently impressing some excellent commentary as always, to Nursing Student wishing her all the best in her job search, to Random Acts of Reality who is as enjoyable to read as ever, to Barry Monk who has been campaigning as effectively as ever, and lastly to the Witch Doctor who is hopefully correct in saying that a daffodil may be about to bloom. Regards one and all.