A reply to Alex,
It's true that what is needed is trust, rather than bureaucratic
controls, but in that case, isn't the whole debate about
organisational forms a bit of a red (or blue!) herring? It brings to
mind Mohandas Ghandi's warning against attempting to devise
systems that are so perfect that people won't have to be good.
Surely what is needed is (1) money (2) vigorous promotion of
values of care, respect and equity. The government's job is to
provide the first, to provide the second is beyond any government.
John
> 'Nor, on the other hand, are the needed changes
> (to the NHS) really likely to flow from the
> culture of inspections, audits, league tables and
> 'stars' on which the Labour Government currently
> relies. As Michael Power has shown, this culture
> belongs to the world of commerce, where trust is
> at a discount, whereas in health care it is
> always at a premium - trust between patients,
> nurses, doctors, technicians, cleaners, everyone.
> To achieve true modernisation of the NHS, based
> on trust, what is needed is neither competition
> nor bureaucratic policing but a sophisticated and
> profound kind of democratisation.'
>
> Colin Leys. Is consumerism a problem for the NHS?
> Renewal, 2003, 11(2), 20-28
>
> www.renewal.org.uk
>
*
John Rooke,
Institute for Public Health Research and Policy,
The University of Salford,
4th Floor, Humphrey Booth House,
Hulme Place, The Crescent,
Salford M5 4QA.
tel 0161 295 2804
fax 0161 295 2818
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