A better kind of change

Well, My Black Cat, I’m back!

While The Witch Doctor was away it seems you have been rambling on giving your less than erudite thoughts on various things that you know nothing about.

I’m going to test you to see whether you’ve been concentrating properly.

Take these two recent publications for example.

INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF THE LIVERPOOL CARE PATHWAY

REVIEW INTO THE QUALITY OF CARE AND TREATMENT PROVIDED BY 14 HOSPITAL TRUSTS IN ENGLAND ; OVERVIEW REPORT

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh KBE.

Did you notice something unusual about them?

No?

Didn’t think you would…

If you listen carefully to this story then it will give you a clue.

Once upon a time in a hospital that The Witch Doctor knows very well, there were lots and lots of committee meetings. Indeed some doctors seemed to spend more time sitting round these talking tables than they spent in consultation with their patients.

The chairman of one of these committees became aware of this and he decided to do something that had never been done before. He looked at his watch at the start of each meeting and he made a note, not only of all those who attended, but he also privately graded them according to their likely salaries. He then worked out the approximate hourly rate that each attending member of the committee was paid.

When the secretary of the committee had completed the minutes the chairman insisted they were then handed over to him. He then calculated the number of man / woman hours that had been spent at the committee and indicated the approximate cost in sterling. This was an indication of the contribution made by the taxpayer to the meeting. The minutes contained this information when they were circulated to members of the committee and to senior hospital managers.

He could have gone further and added the time taken to read all the documentation distributed by the committee and the preparation time for any action taken. He didn’t though because he was just trying to make the point that committees have a responsibility not to waste taxpayers’ money.

This poor doctor didn’t last long as a chairman since it was deemed inappropriate to cost in this way the many meetings that were going on in that hospital.

But times might be changing.

For the better……

That’s the only clue I’m going to give you, My Black Cat. Now go back and read these two documents thoroughly and pay attention!