Today I received a letter from the estimable Dr Winyard, Director
of Health Services.
The distibution of it is given as "GP Practices in England" among
others.
It is dated 16th September 1998 and called HSC 1998/158 and, as I
said it arrived today.
You may have a copy.
After the atrociously pixellated NHS Executive logo on the first
page, the second page purports to give interim guidance about a new
drug called Viagra which, I gather from the letter, is in the
process of receiving marketing authorisation from the European
Comission.
I see this circular as a clear indication that nobody responsible
for it should have any continuing role in the management of anything
so important as the NHS.
The delay in circulation could perhaps be forgiven, there is after
all no method of simultaneously dispatching a message to every GP
and expecting it to arrive in less than a month or two, vague
technological promises of better systems are obviously stymied
by functionally idigerate technophobes in NHSE and DoH and cannot be
expected to allow the high and mighty to disseminate their
expensively prepared thoughts efficiently.
However the actual content of it displays an inexcusable lack of
grasp.
This letter should not have been written. Had it been written it
should not have contained the thoughts within it. If by some
mischance it had been written, with its present flavour or anything
like it, it should on no account have been distributed.
Since it has been distributed, I wonder if anybody could estimate
the cost of the exercise? Whatever it cost is a clear waste of NHS
money at a time when we are obviously in extremis for funding, since
even the wages of the staff seeing pateints are to be pared down.
The author should resign.
--- OffRoad 1.9r registered to Adrian Midgley
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