----- Original Message -----
From: "Dunn Matthew Dr.
Subject: Re: Govt health warning
> It may seem a bit heretical these days, but a return to doing regular
minor
> ops lists and elective clinics (with appropriate payment to the trust by
> PCOs and this money used to fund appropriate additional staff) would give
us
> scope to cut our elective work in the first week or so of the new bunch,
> freeing up the additional staff for general department cover, supervision
> and teaching.
Yes, completely heretical Matt. Emergency medicine and "elective" work are
incompatible, well, at least they're very uncomfortable bed-partners. What
have minor ops got to do with emergency medicine? Why the need to do
elective minor surgery when you've got plenty of emergency minor surgery in
a busy department? And why elective clinics? OK, I can see how some type of
review clinic adds value to the emergency care of minor injuries, but when
you start seeing GP referrals and the like, you've moved way out of
emergency medicine territory.
No, the way we cope with changeover is by having sufficient senior and
middle grade staff available; no distractions and no leave for the first
week or two. There are many other non-core activities that can be
rescheduled this week to make room for the juniors, including most
administration and most types of teaching etc. This is not the week to go
away on a risk management course (believe me, I've been sent flyers by some
joker) or to have meetings with your managers about how to improve your
service...
And anyway, how come it's not such a good idea to be unavailable doing minor
ops this week, but OK for the rest of the year?
Adrian Fogarty
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