Not only is the medical profession going to be controlled by politicians who will in the future appoint GMC representatives (causing one BMJ writer to compare the changes with what happened in Germany in 1933), but they have added new advice this year which makes it unprofessional to:
express to your patients your personal beliefs, including political...beliefs, in ways...that are likely to cause them distress.
In theory, this means that when patients come in and ask me 'is the NHS in trouble, Dr Rant?', then I am unable to truthfully tell them 'Yes, thanks to the bastards in power we are all fucked' because that would be (1) a political view, and (2) distressing to the patient.
Instead, I have to say: 'I'm sorry, but I couldn't possibly comment'. No doubt it will soon be acceptable only to say: 'The NHS is having it's best year ever! Ve vill all live forever! Heil NuLabour! Heil NuLabour!....'.
I don't know about you, but I'm off to practice my mad, zealot stare and stiff armed salute.
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15 comments:
I went to see my GP because I thought I was drinking too much and she said "Me too."
Can I have her disciplined?
Lol! As a patient, I would find it more stressful if you practised your zealot stare and stiff armed salute mid consultation Dr Rant
:))
I think a stiff armed salute with raised middle finger in Mr Brown's direction would be appropriate, sorry, i forgot, not allowed to express political opinion any more! What's next, voting?
Does this mean that politicians will be constrained in the same way when they hold their local "surgeries" for their constituents? I can't wait.
Sad NHS supporter
Someone has to break the party line, so I will... I am amazed that any patient thinks doctors should have carte blanche to inflict their political opinions on patients during a consultation, particuarly as it isn't easy to leave a GP and sign on with another. (I mean what if I got landed with dr blue?! -- more seriously, what if I got stuck with a GP who thought like americanmd who comments at drcrippen's? What if a GP said something I thought was really stupid -- hey, not possible... -- really sexist, really racist?)
My previous GPs opposed GP trust holding -- if that's what it was called -- but they lobbied by means of posters and so on in the entrance hall, which is fine. Some doctors seem to be lobbying patients by forwarding a Support Your Surgery email from the BMA -- one, to doctors.org, was forwarded to me but not by a GP -- that's OK too.
Of course doctors have rights but they should bear in mind that 1. they have power/authority over patients 2. they are not *taxi drivers*, licensed to bore/offend, albeit they have an even more captive audience.
(Is your real objection to this that you agree with me but don't think the government should insert clauses like that, but that rather, the profession should police itself and instil its own ethos? Though I'd sympathise with that, the doctors who suffered because of their politics suffered under precisely that system. Quis custodiet... )
jayann
I agree with you, Jayann.
However, my concerns are that as the NHS becomes more and more politicised, and as decisions about care become more and more politically motivated, and as accountability declines to the point of non-existence, it seems worrying that doctors are being specifically told not to discuss politics with patients.
It should be enough to say that doctors should not discuss topics with patients in a manner that is unprofessional. Perhaps this is the meaning of the 'cause offense' clause, but we have seen increasing use of the GMC as a tool of the state to keep doctors in line politically.
Doctors are extremely vulnerable to malicious complaints. They work alone, while often the patient has a relative with them, and the level of proof required by the GMC is being dropped. I think doctors will simply keep quiet if asked questions about services rather than risk patients claiming they were offended by a 'political' statement.
Do we really want to replace a failing Old Boy's Network with a Political Thought Police for the most controlling elected government this country has ever seen.
Do we really want to silence doctors at a time when health care provision continues to decline, but the claims of wonderful health care provision from the government continue to rise.
Thoughtcrime.
Clearly bollocks; what on Earth does "likely to cause distress" mean? How is this proved or disproved?
No jury would ever convict; but then we don't get one of them do we.
Thank you, dr rant.
It should be enough to say that doctors should not discuss topics with patients in a manner that is unprofessional.
I agree -- a 'do not discuss politics' does leave doctors open to malicious allegations. I'd hope though that 'ways... distress' could be properly interpreted. (If the relevant authorities lack the courage to do that, so much the worse for them.)
Thoughtcrime.
dissidentdoctor, ask somebody the difference between thought and action...
jayann
At a hospital in the midlands in Ireland a few months back a pissed off nurse/junior doctor ( no-one knows who actually did this) left notes under all the patients pillows who were on trolleys one night-the night after management closed a ward due to cost cutting. The notes explained what had happened, who had done it, who was responsible for the sick people sleeping in the halls on trolleys and to write to their local TD (same as MP for you guys), and finally, apologised on behalf of the hospital for them having to undergo this. Awesome.
Your country is getting more and more like that film-V for Vendetta. Scary stuff.
"Is the NHS in trouble, Dr Alexis?"
"Well, to give you my answer would land me in all sorts of trouble with the authorities so I couldn't possibly comment. The Labour Government's political appointees to the GMC would strike me off."
Is that OK?
Anonymous troll,
The difference is not so much between "thought and action"; as between "thought" likely to, (by who exactly?) and beyond reasonable doubt when tried by one's peers and not Blair's fucking Star Chamber.
ah, the sidebar rant conversation we are all supposed to accept as gospel! Fuck off rant. So you had a conversation with a doctor! Anecdotal twaddle, the Canadian system is a carbon copy of our own because civil servants from this country created it. The fact that you train for 5 years and appear not to add any value suggests we have an even greater failing than they.
Most other countries leave the history up to trained professionals (physician assistants etc.) who are not the doctor so they can free their time to speak with the patient and diagnose the problem. You have proven that GP's in the UK feel most comfortable doing mundane bookkeeping chores that add little or no value to the patient experience. I am sure it is a comfort zone issue for you and your mates and also a control issue. It is yet another symptom of your inability to move on and modernise your practice.
So you can fuck off runt, all your anecdotal bullshit is wearing thin. You must be asking yourself when the GMC or DofH are going to come knocking on your door and ask for that license you bought online. Very few employers of contractors would allow them to hurl so much abuse and lies at the system that provides them with an income and not want to extract the cancer. I can only think you are on a waiting list to be fucked up your ass runt!!!!!!! Might want to buy some vaseline, and start looking here for your next job www.monster.com. You can push delete now!
Anonymous,
I'm getting deja-vu, encore un fois.
Pedantic moments.
1)Unless nony the mouse is suggesting cruelty to donkeys the correct spelling is "arse".
2)If arse is suggested the corrrect word is "buggered". Unless the pooves have made a succesfull campaign to take over the entire English language fucking requires a vagina.
I am hoping that the change will result in less effort into covering up unethical research (cf making young babies breathe 3,000 ppm CO for non-therapeutic research).
Yes I do mean Carbon Monoxide.
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