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I am aware of at least 2 members of
the BAEM executive who have done full out of hours SHO shifts
for sick SHOs
in the last week in addition to their own shifts. In fact one chap
actually worked an SHO, an SpR and a consultant shift all at the same time
! Three divine people in the one being. The last person to do that
was God when he did the Father, Son and Holy Ghost thing.
!
Yeh great John but it is this
sort of thing that degrades the speciality. While we continue to do it the
more it is the norm and will be expected to continue. It is this sort of
behaviour that has ground the speciality down as it has the highest
mortality. In one region 30% of the A & E consultants have had CABG's
in the past two years. I am one of the few survivors of the 4 contempory
SR's from the Yorkshire Region in the late 80's. The attrition rate in A
& E consultants is phenomenal.
There has to be adequate staffing and
backup so that if somebody goes off sick there is someone to fall back on.
These so-called superhuman people are doing nobody any favours and leave widows
and young families. Many were my friends and colleagues. A recent
senior member of BAEM has had a CVA, I know at least ten very close colleagues
of mine who should have been in their prime and enjoying life, but died
prematurely doing highly stressful jobs. I can say that their lives were
definitely shortened by the sheer stress of their posts. I went to their
funerals. I hope I am not abusing the list but it is something that I feel
very strongly about.
As I frequently tell my Consultant Staff
Committee would the consultant surgeon or orthopod come in and do the SHO's
shift, when they go sick. They do not have the onerous on-call committments of
the A & E specialists, these days.
However I frequently get called to
come in and cover shifts at weekends when the SHO goes off and do it as I feel
sorry for the patients. BAEM should stop it forthwith and push for
adequate staffing.
Sorry John but I think BAEM should be looking after
the working conditions and reducing stress levels in their members. These
people are not doing the speciality any favours. A & E consultant are
more important than airline pilots. They need their quality time off at
the golf club or the gym. Not doubling or trebling shifts because there
are insufficient resources to run the system.
The only satisfaction that
I get now is that the next generation will not embark on the onerous duties that
my generation put up with and I say good luck to them.
The sad thing is that BAEM tends to tow the party
line and people like Alan Leaman and myself who work in smaller and yet
very busy units are seldom heard or listened to.
Danny
McGeehan
Stafford