Yes, clinical managers should have a clinical background.

But there is an inherent contradiction in that…too much background and the are institutionalised, too little and they are not suitable. It’s a fine line and the NHS is clearly erring on the side of experienced people. A little movement in the other direction is necessary I think.

Your arguments against unaccountable, petty and overpaid managers is accurate and I couldn’t agree more. But for progress to be made, they must be replaced by better candidates. If the going rate for an acountant with 3 years experience is £40k in the North, then that is what they will have to pay. If the going rate for a nurse is £25k, again, that is what they will have to pay. You cannot seriously argue against paying market based wages?

Also, I disagree about any “merit” in overworking junior doctors. Back to my aviation analogy: would you fly on an airline which preferred to overwork First Officers, so that the airline could tell if they had the “right stuff”? I mean hey, we’re not talking jumbos, just a Dash 8…No, the First Officers ARE the right stuff. Some obviously are better than others, but all are of the required standard. How do they figure this out? A little thing called “training” and “licensing” preceded my rigorous selection. Come to mention it, the same as trainee lawyers being called to the bar, or accountants and bankers receiving their charter…

YES

I was a fool!

I offered to make some tea for our team, seeing as I was in a good mood. But there was no milk in the fridge, so I went downstairs to raid another department’s fridge. They told me it was fine, but I had to sign for it.

I didn’t believe them, so I said “what…”

And then everyone laughed at me

Annoying really…I wasn;t really caught out, but by not instantly coming up with a witty reply I lost!!

Kev

The trouble is, if a manager really knows how the NHS works, he/she is likely to be institutionalised and therefore not the best person to move the organisation forward.

Certainly, part of it is that doctors have to sort their profession out.

Junior doctors are treated unprofessionally – low pay and unrealistic hours. But for some reason, doctors, as a profession, do not want this to change because it would erode the position of the minority of really senior doctors who get money shoved at them and work shorter hours. Basically, as this is an aviation forum, the comparison is that junior First Officers have to fly for 14 hours a day but senior Captains only for half an hour. Clearly that position is not only unprofessional, but is unsafe and endangers public safety.

Another aviation comparative would be in the choice of managers. Now I know a lot of pilots sometimes dislike and even disrespect their line managers, maybe even because they are not all pilots! But you cannot doubt that the average airline is better run than the NHS! So the argument is: why should managers be doctors and nurses (If I’m an American – “health care professional”) ? Why not a lawyer, accountant or banker? Their medical knowledge is not the same obviously, but maybe their ability to effectively run an organisation is better. If they really ARE high calibre professionals, they will not micro manage or endanger clinical needs by meddling. How to attract such people….decent salary is part of it. Despite whining about “overpaid” NHS managers, how would you compare their pay to that of your average solicitor, chartered accountant or bank manager? Not too well, is the answer. Small wonder then, that Mr. solictor or accountant is not employed by the NHS.

sigh…I remember that day when Manx Airlines won the ERA award, before BA came along.

The only reason I mentioed the lack of a PTV was that QF do usually have them, apparently. I just happened to get one which didn’t.

I only flew them a few times, but I can’t fault them. No PTVs on the 744 I flew on, but I also flew on a couple of their 717’s and they were nice flights. No problems anywhere.

Golden rule i suppose…as long as the money comes in, they aren’t bothered what happens to it. When it stops coming in, they’ll go overboard with cutbacks.