Sadly as is so often the case, very
little of what my professional body had to say had much to do with my daily
round; I actually rolled my eyes when I saw there was to be yet another country-wide
review of pathology.
Now I’m not against any reviews… if they
are done sensibly. But reviews is entirely the problem which has been besetting
the NHS for the forty-four years I’ve been working for it.
What happens is that there is a review.
Something or other is suggested. But before whatever has been suggested is
fully implemented, something else is suggested. That which had been started is
immediately abandoned and the something else is implemented. But before that
something else is fully implemented, yet another idea is suggested.
No idea is ever given long enough to
take effect. No idea is ever evaluated to see whether it was good or bad. Every
idea is brought in on the whim of whichever politician is calling the shots at
the time.
And I’m breaking no confidences in
saying this. Just read the news and the political histories of the last few
decades…
What the NHS needs is one over-arching
review, and the recommendations of that review to be put in place and tested
over a period of a year or so before reviewing and improving. Not reviewing and
effectively starting again from scratch.
And the IBMS has released
an update to its Good Professional Practice and Conduct in Biomedical
Science. I suppose that we need such a document… but I realise I’m an old
reactionary in feeling sadness that we need such a document to state the
patently obvious.
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