I suppose that it's ironic that I should find myself on a bed in Accident and Emergency on a day that has, in the minds of most, proved devastating for the NHS. Insight is a powerful thing, and so watching countless doctors and nurses whizz past my cubicle triggered a few thoughts.
We all knew that the report regarding the failings of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was coming and it did so with gusto. So as to avoid boring you with a relentless diatribe I'll let you do the research yourself and attempt to sum up Francis QC's near 4000 page strong report up in one sentence - the current system failed its patients. (To listen to the man himself watch the video at the bottom of the page.) Before you think/say it, I agree, it's not as simple as that. But it would be foolish of me to provide you with a fair in-depth analysis of the workings of a system that I have yet to work in.
A lack of accountability seems to be the main criticism of the inquiry but I am going to choose to leave this to one side. Call me a coward but given that today's inquiry formed the fifth attempt at identifying the problem I want to focus on how our healthcare system can move on from such revelations instead. My reason for this? Well I have two actually:
- I plan to work in the NHS myself - August 2016 - ?
- With our ageing population, I'm probably going to require the services of an NHS professional (or two) at some point.
My focus - encouraging and protecting 'whistleblowing'. By this I mean trying to find a way to foster a culture in which individuals in the profession feel like they can speak out if they have a concern about patient care or safety. How? Funny you should ask, that's going to form the basis for my dissertation. I'll let you know how it goes (15,000 words and 1500 cups of tea later).
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lySJlm1EnM)
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