WHY IS LIAM DONALDSON SO SILENT? WHY DID JAMES JOHNSON TRY TO SUPPORT HIM?
Why did James Johnson, then one of the most senior members of the BMA, choose to support Sir Liam Donaldson, the CMO in a highly visible letter at a time when most BMA members were irate about MTAS, and juniors were distraught and apparently facing unemployment?
And put his job at risk?
And not a word from the CMO. Not a single word.
Strange.
Why does Sir Liam Donaldson continually state that we are and will continue to be short of doctors while everyone else thinks we are overproducing them?
Did those who designed MTAS really think it could be pushed through without an uproar?
Did they?
Really?
Why was MTAS/MMC propelled through so quickly in spite of strong advice to delay?
It is very difficult to swallow this degree of incompetency. Was it therefore all incompetency?
The slip of the pen in the Templeton letter.
Senior medics not grasping what was going on.
Why?…..
And why?……….
The Witch Doctor has been grappling with lots of questions like these for some time. Things did not make sense. There was something missing.
And now…….
The Green Bottle Spell is working. It has come up with the last bit of the jigsaw for The Witch Doctor!
So……
There are many, many facets to recent problems.
Complex facets. Contentious facets. Facets that were not talked about.
Too complex and contentious for The Witch Doctor to think aloud about. And definitely too complex and contentious to blog about.
The Green Bottle Spell says:
The CMO needs to be silent at this stage.
The CMO is a civil servant. He, is less free than the rest of the medical profession. Since, unlike his medical colleagues, he is privy to seeing the bigger picture that is driving government policies he may agree with some of these when most of the profession may disagree. If he disagrees, but cannot influence government policy then he must stick with it or resign. Sometimes resignation would be futile and not in the best interests of the patient or the medical profession.
The CMO thinks we are underproducing doctors. He does not waver in this.
The CMO does not want to see unemployment of junior doctors.
The CMO is no fool. Anything but!
The CMO entirely understands all facets of the situation. Facets unknown to most others.
The CMO may have faults but knows exactly what he is doing.
The CMO should not resign.
With his insight he probably can sort out the mess.
Maybe he even knew it was inevitably going to be a mess.
Green bottle spells are very difficult to do.
Is this green bottle spell working properly?
The Witch Doctor thinks it is.
Time will tell.
In the meantime, junior doctors. “The country needs more doctors.” Remember this. The bizarre MTAS has gone. For good. In the fullness of time you will be able to sort out MMC from any medical NHS job you will have. Just make sure you have a job. You can achieve very little from outside the system. Your intelligence, knowledge, ability and training, taken together, are scarce commodities. You will eventually be needed and be sought out. You have the advantage. Take it.
You will need to be patient. But while you are being patient keep learning.
You don’t need a training job or a number or a log book to learn!
Absolutely not!
