Nerve 13 - Working in the NHS

Working in the NHS - A Personal Story

I can't remember a time when I was not in some way involved with the NHS. With both parents paediatricians, every Christmas morning was spent admiring the festive decorations in Sheffield Children's Hospital. Mealtime conversation would include sometimes lurid tales of children my mother had seen in A&E; such as the toddler who - to his mother's horror - ate a jam jar of tadpoles, or another who drank a tin of red gloss paint!

When I started my first medical job in Bath in 1972, each post lasted only six months, so as soon as we started one we were looking for the next. Although we were of course trainees, we were there to do the work. And we did, about 120 hours a week on call and about 90 actually working. This included A&E as well, although fortunately numbers attending were far fewer than today. Two weeks into my first job, when five unconscious people were brought in at once after a road accident, a helpful surgical trainee - who was not on duty but just walking through - came to help. How could I resist this? Naturally, in due course I married him!

In what little spare time we had there were postgraduate exams to be passed, so work-life balance was not on the agenda. In spite of this it was a very happy time. The hospital was our home, as it was too for the student nurses, and was a real community with a sense of common purpose.

Several jobs in various cities and specialties later, Roger and I spent several years in London for his training in cardiothoracic surgery, while I discovered an interest in dermatology. Once he had finished his training however, there were just no consultant posts to apply for, so New Zealand seemed like a good idea. This led to an interesting four years in Wellington. Dermatology is mainly a private sector specialty there, and patients even have to pay a significant amount to see their GP, so it was good to get back to our NHS. However, that was twenty years ago, when current NHS 'reforms' had not been thought of.

When I became a consultant twelve years ago, the NHS still seemed like a unified system, in spite of the Conservatives' introduction of Foundation Trusts and outsourcing of services like cleaning. There have been real advances in treatments and New Labour's promise of more funding was very welcome. But there is shocking waste on private sector services (more expensive than the NHS), on thousands of extra managers to run an unnecessary market, on management consultants…. I could go on and on! It is tragic to see services restricted while this waste continues. If it does, it will be the end of the NHS.

My parents must be turning in their graves.

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