"In short, MMC has destroyed my career. In the space of 18 months, I went from being told I had the natural talent be one of the best cardiac surgeons in the world by my consultants to being dumped on the scrap heap. I got a LAT registrar post in London Deanery after only 12 months as a cardiothoracic SHO only 6 months of which were adult cardiac. With only that 6 month SHO experience, I went on to perform my first skin to skin set of grafts after only 5 and a half months and over 10 first operator cases by the end of my first year as a reg.I then went on to start a PhD and suddenly MMC started.
The goalposts changed overnight and I went from being perfectly positioned to be able to start applying for a number to being "too experienced". My research, papers, logbook of cases, experience all count for nothing; if fact they are a burden. There were no gaps in my CV and application form last year. I had all the exams, courses, cases, presentations, publications, research, everything. I could operate. My bosses wouldn'e even come in for major trauma or emergencies knowing full well I was capable of dealing with it. I didn't even get shortlisted yet my SHO who couldn't even take a saphenous vein without help got an NTN in cardiothoracics.That's just the start.
Since I graduated in 2001, the NHS has changed beyond recognition. At work, management treat us with disdain and contempt, doing everything they can to show us who really is in charge. I can't even plan to go out in a couple of weeks as I don't know what my oncall rota for May is. With some luck, it will be out before next weekend but not necessarily. My fiancee, a GP, now spends more time doing paperwork than she spends seeing patients. Not only that, but she's forced to do extended hours for no additional pay, just the threat of a pay cut if she doesn't. Childcare is a nightmare as both of us often have to work at times when none is available. The boys are now used to doing their homework in the surgery and falling asleep there as they are still there till well after their bedtime, or sometimes in the back of her car while she's still doing visits.There are now more administrators in the NHS than doctors and every new target begets a new layer of management with no change in the number of doctors or even a reduction. Enormous sums are bing wasted on useless initiatives and there's no money available for the things that really matter.
There are a lot of other things going badly wrong with medicine but it doesn't end there. The economy is total mess. GB's chancellorship saw the worst raids on public assets there ever has been. Our pensions have lost a huge amount since his changes in 1998. His irresponsible borrowing, reckless sales and expenditure means we'll be paying the price of his wastage for decades to come. The current tax burden on those in actual employment is higher than it ever has been, even the 90% income tax for the highest earners back in the 70s. The fabric of society has been eroded such that nobody feels that they have any responsibility for anything anymore yet everyone has a firm belief that they have many unquestionable and irrefutable rights. Our civil liberties have been eroded so much that 1984 isn't fiction anymore."
Thanks Gordon and thanks Tony, thanks New Labour. When you hear Gordon talk of how they value the NHS and its staff, I suggest you read the above and remind yourself of the reality of the situation. Gordon and his cronies pretend they care for the NHS, they clearly do not. Maybe the next lot will be no better, one thing is sure though, it is hard to see how they could treat the medical profession with any more disrespect.
9 comments:
Gordon had a boss who decided on things 'alone' from his sofa, until Gordon took office himself. He took a troubled, in everyway, country and did his best to try and undo the damage, including that done to young doctors because of MTAS/MMC. We have to give him credit for that, even though I too know of some whose hopes have been damaged perhaps beyond repair. But it was not Gordon who decided on MMC
My problem now is that when I look around, I can't see 'anyone' who would have more sympathy than Gordon - that I find a bit threatening given the current climate. At least Gordon has a first hand experience now and has already pledged to protect frontline staff. I don't find the others' pledges believable.
Me said..
If you wish to vote labour then you have that right, but saying that no one has more sympathy than Gordon, well that just lands you straight in the "Bonkers Bin"
So does your lack of sympathy for a bright young doctor whose medical career has been buggered up by a labour government.
Keep taking the tablets!
Gordon has sympathy?
Good joke.
Protect frontline staff?
Look what Labour have done over the last ten/fifteen years.
They have attacked those with brains and training, they fear professionals, they want the power, they are the lowest of the low.
They could have worked with us, but instead out of their megalomaniacal desire for control they gave tried to grab power and take it from everyone else.
"your lack of sympathy for a bright young doctor whose medical career has been buggered"
It's not like that at all! It is because I feel, very much, for those whose careers have been mutilated by MTAS and MMC that I want Gordon back. As I said, it was Bliar who initiated the whole sorry saga and it was him who appointed Hewitt - and it was him who always wanted things done Now how 'he' wanted them done, without allowing for democratic debate or reason.
And Gordon was left with the mess, which he did his best to fix - and that applies to everything and not just medicine. That's why I feel that he should be given the chance to continue, otherwise we'd have a new set in government who haven't got a clue! ... or pretend they don't, to suit themselves!
No,no, no!
Please seperate Gordon't era from that of Bliars and you will then see my reason.
And Anonymous 21:21
What gurantees do you have that other parties will be any different, if not even worse?
... bearing in mind this 'new world order' .... ie, going global
Me is clearly a political bag carrier, SPAD or policy wonk, working at a think tank.
brown doesnt give a damn about anything other than his image & re-election. The man is the epitome of a career politician & thats why I loathe, hate & despise him.
I used to be an active member of the Labour Party. I'm very firmly "Old Labour" & I hate what New Labour did to get re-elected [profligate borrowing, PFI, outsourcing, illegal wars, dogwhistle islamophobia, playing the race card, stoking racial tensions, quangocracy, gimmicks, politicisation of the civil service, demonising the young]. I'm lucky, I escaped MMC, I got my CCST pre-PMETB, & I'm an established consultant anaesthetist. Thats why I hate New Labour.
Me spins that Brown cares. The man is an inveterate phoney, fraud & liar. He thinks he can give us his rictus grin & play the old "son of the Manse" card & we'll all fall for it, especially when he throws in snide innuendo about the Etonian toff Cameron. i grew up in abject poverty, spending most of my childhood in local authority care. I should be a staunch Labour supporteer. I am a socialist, but I've grown to hate New labour more than the tories. There is no difference between Browism & blairism. They were both careerists, out for personal advancement, selecting Labour as a vehicle was a mere tactical decision.
I've seen the impact of MMC on trainees-human beings broken by a barbaric & inhumane system. Me should crawl back under his stone. Brown doesnt give a damn about doctors, nurses or the NHS.
"Me is clearly a political bag carrier, SPAD or policy wonk, working at a think tank."
I don't work anywhere in the public sector, and, what is SPAD?
And BTW, being a close relative of an MTAS victim, I have personal experience of the heart ache it caused to undeserving of the agony it caused young aspiring doctors and their families - I haven't even recovered from the shock yet myself; it was like a punch in the face, instead of a 'thank you' for a job well done! But your hands are not in the hot water yourself Angry Anaethetist, with one more in the pipeline, mine are!
And that's precisely why I want Gordon back; because he started the repair programme and I can't see how this can be completed properly if teams change hands. If you have a piece of land, you don't get an architect to make the drawings then start supervising the building work only to dispose of him midway, that would be foolish, don't you think? I have nothing against anyone because of their social class/wealth .. etc, including those from Eaton - but I feel that if you dispose of the architct midway, you risk your building becoming faulty and sagas like MTAS can occur again, but you won't be able to pin the blame on anyone because everyone will just blame the other, specially now, given the current economic climate and the projected cuts. I want Gordon to finish what he started so that we can hold him to account if error happens - because those who experienced MTAS first hand can not survive a second blow!
And aren't the rest of the contenders for power career politicians, and in it for themselves too?! So, again, why change?!.. Why, for me, better the devil I know!
I was looking for Medical Assistant Career and I landed in this post. Had fun reading, I'll be visiting for more for sure
Great blog all the best
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