Ranting Writes

Dr Rant has the right idea. This was such a good post that I had to write about it. This is what Rant babe had to say.

Poor little Tory MP (and former nurse) Nadine Dorries has been bleating about the effect of the recent expenses fraud furore is having on the MPs themselves. They don't like being tarred with the same brush as everyone else, and she's worried that some might commit suicide.

Let's recap shall we?

Over the years there have been a number of medical scandals (Bristol, Alder hey, Shipman, Stafford). Often MPs and ministers have been the first to leap onto the bandwagon, condemning everyone involved BEFORE all of the facts are known. There has then usually been a knee jerk reaction 'to stop it ever happening again' which has been invariably ill thought out or positively bad for medicine, research and the public.

And lets recap further, the suicide rate and mental health problems for doctors who faced the MMC fiasco was phenomenally high.1 in 5 doctors thought about committing suicide during this fiasco. Most people forget the leading Royal College of Psychiatrists study. Indeed, Liam Donaldson and cronies are directly responsible for this and should be held to account by the GMC. I am not sure Remedy UK added this argument within their case but they should.

"Almost 700 doctors were questioned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists about how their wellbeing was affected by the botched recruitment process.

More than 30,000 doctors are fighting for around 22,000 training posts, and the online selection procedures have been strongly criticised.

Preliminary results from the survey found that 21 per cent of junior doctors have had suicidal thoughts as a result of the scheme.

Some 94 per cent reported higher stress levels than normal, and 90 per cent of these put this down to the recruitment process.

A third said they had drunk more in the past six months and others have shown symptoms of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, a sense of hopelessness, less fulfilling sex, lack of appetite and tearfulness"

I have been meaning to write about the above for a while now. I think many people underestimate the detrimental impact of the MMC on a large proportion of junior doctors. I know the GMC certainly do not have an idea about the catastrophic impact on juniors. At present, the senior doctors responsible have not been held accountable despite more than two reports criticising their negligent management.