You would never think there was a recession going on. It has taken 4 days to get a technician out ro fix my cable connexion for my TV. Even when I threatened to go to their competitor, I couldn't budge them. They offered me £25 off my next bill for the lost connexion, but nothing would induce them to improve their service. I would pay an extra £25 to get the job done quickly. I wonder whether Richard Branson knows what is being done in his name.
You would think that the threat of competition would induce them to improve, but a great depression has set upon the country. No-one seems to have any initiative. Everyone is beset by the attitude that nothing can be done. I remember the same attitude beset the country in the 1970s before Mrs Thatcher came to power.
We see it in hospitals. Despite the perception that things are going downhill, no-one seems to recognize that it is in their hands to change things. Recently I heard that bone marrow trephines were being booked at a famous hospital at one hourly intervals. The dostor doing the operations can do them in 15 minutes, but the times are dictated by the nurse who doesn't start work until 9-30 am and can therefor only accommodate 3 trephines in her working day. What does the nurse do? Does she lay up the trolley? No. Does she do the trephine biopsy? No. Does she collect the specimens for the lab? No. Does she consent the patient? No. What doe she do? Apparently she holds the patient's hand during the procedure and whispers encouraging words.
Do you remember when elevators in department stores had elevator operators who called out what departments were on each floor? Before they realized that customers could actually read. They used to call it overmanning.
If the nurse could actually do something then they might do 10 trephines in a morning, but instead patinets and doctors spend hours wasting their time.
One of the reasons that people enjoy being self employed is the ability to set their own pace for work. It is immensely frustrating to be at the behest of laziness in colleagues.
So glad you wrote about this subject, made me go back to my 7 BMB during my CLL life.
ReplyDeleteI once had one BMB assisted by a young nurse that was her first time and she was quite nerves, the registrar doctor and myself run her through the process to make her feel at ease, after she left the room, I said to the doctor, "I forgot to tell her that it also helps the patient when is the first time to hold her/his hand".