It is one of the most archaic systems that I know. Every 6 months there is a change over of staff and in my opinion it is all done on the cheap. Doctors change jobs and move from the North of Scotland to London and vice verse.
I remember when I was younger I set off from Leeds at midnight and travelled down overnight on the train and caught the hovercaft over the start work at 9 o'clock on the Isle of Wight.
Why couldn't the couldn't the govt. be more proactive with warning messages. Usual thing careful opening the tin of corned beef. Slow down on the motorway as Doc in A & E just out of house jobs. Consult your GP, cut down on the booze and so the list goes on. However not a bleep from the dept. usual thing don't give a stuff about real patients.
When I was a single handed consultant I had to run the front door as well as induce the new SHO's every 6 months and it was hard work. It i going to be worse with the Foundation year when they change every 4 months and some of them don't want to do A & E.
Surely there could be cetral funding to pay for Locums so that a good efficient and should I say safe robust system is in place to produce a smooth transition every 6 months.
Still I suppose it is wishful thinking and there are more important things to spend the money on like more project managers collecting meaningless data and putting on conferences at 5 star hotels at a couple of hundred grand.
Industry would never countenance such a system and I ask myself why should we do so. I can't recollect the Faculty or BAEEM actually adressing this issue and I do study the minutes assidiuously.
Danny McGeehan
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