I thought you might appreciate a tip from the world of horse racing? Get it right, like Mike Tindall and you might buy in for about �12k and end up being worth �200,000. If you have about �15k to spare, you could join a syndicate.
So, here's my little free tip;
'A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up'.
The thundering drumming you may have been able to hear this week is not a long legged, refined turn of foot, silks fluttering and stretching for the line. It is a bunch of old nags trying to catch up.
This week has seen the publication of two reports and responses that make me wonder why do we bother.
First; the health services ombudsman/woman/person Julie Mellor. Her news... some people are getting discharged from hospital before there are safe arrangements in place at home.
Err, thank you. We all knew that. Try and keep up.
The report focuses on 9 distressing cases of utter, unjustifiable, inexcusable, unforgivable cock-up. They are based on 221 complaints in 2014/5. Only four a week? Yes, but one-third up on the previous year. Unfortunately, as well as being indefensible, they are entirely explainable and predictable.
It's a mess. We know social care can't do their thing and we know the NHS is choc-a-bloc, some wards, full of people who shouldn't be there. We get that.
The NHS Confed, who seems to have dissolved during the junior doctor's punch-up, decided to wake up and put the boot in. They said; '...the suffering described in the report was unacceptable'.
Oh really! I don't think anyone would have realised that.
I seriously wonder why organisations would be forking out several thousand quid to belong to the Confed? Their conference programme looks as exciting as Christmas at yer Auntie's. I'd tell you how much a ticket is but they keep it a secret; a good reason to give it a miss.
NICE jumped on the waggon. Their Gillian Leng said; "It's more important than ever to ensure person-centred care when someone is admitted to hospital...." Blimey, she's a Prof. Leading edge thinking.
The DH? Hardly worth bothering;
"We expect the NHS to ensure patient safety and social care needs are taken into account when making clinical decisions about discharging patients from hospital."
Thank you...
Katherine Murphy of the Patient's Association (Remember them?) said; "The decision to discharge a patient must be done on the basis of the patient being ready to leave hospital..." I hesitate to say this; it was done on that basis and that's what's got us into this mess.
Frankly, I couldn't care less what any of these Uriah Heep organisations think. I want to know how we can get to the bottom of what is happening now. Answer the question; how are we doing today? I want to know why we are not using real-time data to nip these problems in the bud.
Next, the Public Accounts Committee with the news;
"
The government's ambition to provide a seven-day NHS presents a serious risk to public money as flawed workforce planning leaves the cost of the policy virtually unknown." (report here)
Thank you... 54k people have just been on strike, saying that.
We are certainly 50,000 health professionals short of a compliment and it will take at least three years for the coalition, austerity cuts to work through the system. The sky is black with chickens coming home to roost.
Everyone piles onto the bandwagon, shouting what we already know. At the end of the day, this is all about the politics that none of them will speak of. Austerity is emasculating services, causing us all grief and it is an entirely political construct.
Organisations; please stop writing reports commenting on the paucity of NHS and care services. Save the paper, just send a letter to Number 10.
There was a bit of good news this week; the General Practitioners Defence Fund is taking up the case of a practice, traduced by the CQC and who lost an appeal.
They are funding a judicial review, claiming;
"... the [CQC] process is not fair, equitable or within the parameters of natural justice".
Now that's a horse I wouldn't mind backing.
