Saturday 2 March 2013

Sacking the boss won't make our hospitals better...

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Although getting rid of the egregious Sir David Nicholson - boss of the NHS - will make us fell better and is probably the right thing to do, it won't sort out the problem.

The problem isn't money.

The problem isn't training.

The problem isn't management.

The problem is that the NHS system requires - even urges - otherwise caring people to ignore suffering and do the paperwork.

Sadly all we've done is set on a lawyer to look at the problem. And he's done what lawyers always do, propose new regulations, new systems and more paperwork. It is inevitable that a future government will set on another lawyer to look at the same problem. That lawyer will propose new regulations, new systems and more paperwork.

Sir David is a sympton of the problem - an arrogant, self-serving symptom who had he an ounce of decency would have walked - but still a symptom. Until we end the Stalinist structure of the NHS that Sir David's role typifies, it will carry on killing people.

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