I didn't pick up my email over the weekend and until quite late this evening.
Not so much because of what it would mean to me (strangely enough
because I enjoy living well), but because resignation means
redundancy for staff and fear for patients, this news made me feel
physically sick, as well as somewhat anxious.
I do not know if this is the issue on which we will finally come to a
fight, but the progress towards conflict now seems even more
unstoppable. Rather like the events that lead to international
conflicts it seems likely that there will be more than enough blame
to go around.
How stupid, when a flu pandemic is a serious possibility.
How stupid when this will be no short sharp "battle", but a lingering
sore that will run well beyond the next election.
How futile when so little can be gained by our acquiescence and so
much lost by a fight.
It really seems rather like those companies that send out redundancy
notices just before Xmas. I cannot and will not do that to my/our staff.
However we have reached a situation in which there is no good outcome.
F***.
One thing I hope. That is that IF we take action, we demand a whole
raft of changes, and not just retraction of one stupid policy. There
are probably more than a dozen really major issues worth fighting
about, and I personally would not take any significant action just
for the sake of winning on one if all the others remain. I would
also not take "token" action to register dissent. If there is to be
conflict it must be winnable and won, almost at any cost.
No matter how stupid, malicious and undemocratic a government is
being (and has now been repeatedly), anyone who takes on the
government in a democracy had better know what they're doing and what
they think the endgame will be.
Finally its worth recording that our practice has probably had more
thanks this year than for several years. Many patients seem to
genuinely appreciate our efforts on their behalf. They deserve better.
Julian
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