Modernising Scientific Careers

Amazingly enough this is no joke, MSC (Modernising Scientific Careers) is upon us, so what exactly is MSC?

"The Department of Health's Modernising Scientific Careers (MSC) workforce programme is designed to ensure flexibility, sustainability and modern career pathways to address the needs of the future NHS."

In government speak this means 'unflexible, unsustainable and dumbed down pile of manure' and it deems a bit similar to the ideas behind the disastrous top down failure that has been Modernising Medical Careers (MMC). There is emphasis on a framework that appears to focus on competencies and centralisation, the government seems to be obsessed with these ideas despite the fact that their track record with them is of Eddie the Eagle quality:

• introduce an integrated career framework encompassing all disciplines and employment groups within the workforce based on roles and function and linked to transferable skills and competences
• clearly identify pathways for progression and transfer, supported by learning and development providing enhanced opportunities
• provide national consistency and maximum flexibility to support local service delivery, the expansion and extension of current roles and the emergence of new roles.

Guess who is MSC's Programme Director? None other than the larger than life Shelley Heard, one of the key figures behind MMC, and my, what a success she made of that. NHS Employers must have had their work cut out to fight off the competition for her signature, well that or maybe they bribed her with a lifetime's supply of Ginsters. One wonders precisely what qualifies Shelley Heard for her position, is it her compliance with government ideology that has been proven by her years as a postgraduate Dean or is it her rank incompetence?

This government is pursuing the very opposite of excellence, their obsession with top down control and centralising everything in sight is so destructive that it's hard to put into words, they are completely unwilling to trust anyone to get on with their own jobs, hence more and more is run from the centre by corrupt government friendly numpties who will do anything the government says in order to hang onto their job or get their OBE. Hence the long term interests of the country are ignored time and time again, as the short term interests of brain dead politicians and their hangers on are served. The compliant incompetent are put in charge, while the educated experts are dis empowered as they may dare to disagree with the government's Stalinist approach, no wonder everything is turning to turd brown.