midwife's muse

All I want to do is to freeze the NHS for a week, not the whole NHS, just the paper-pushing element of it. Hospitals, etc could go on functioning, they could, really they could, but all the 'plug-ins' would crash. Then I would invite a couple of senior clinical staff from each area within each trust to go in and rearrange them, alter priorities, remove unnecessary functions, shut-down the network with government, restore defaults, and then start the whole whirring system back up again.

Priority number 1 would be patient care. Lately I have come to the conclusion that the clinical staffs priority is patient care, but that the 'paper-pushers' worry far more about stars, ratings, finances, and themselves than they do about how the care reaches the user. The other problem is that often the user doesn't get to see what has gone into providing the care. They are unaware of the frantic calls trying to drum up staff, the staff staying long after their shift has officially ended, the scurrying around trying to find the right equipment, and once found hoping that it works. As I've mentioned before, due to staff shortages, extreme staff shortages, community midwives are now required to work shifts within the hospital. All well and good, but our women out on the community suffer, unless we do these 'inside' shifts in our time, which most of us are doing. The care is reaching the women, but it is being delivered by midwives in their own time. Whilst this is happening we have been told to increase the homebirth rate, which we have. This reduces the workload within the hospital, but increases ours, again. What of the equipment necessary? There is no money available. We have the original 2 sets of equipment, but there can be no increase. The most amazing one is that we don't have enough entonox (gas and air) cylinders for the homebirths, we asked for more, but there is no funding available. So there is funding for managers 'jollies' at hotels, buffet lunches during their meetings, etc., but no funding for the services the managers are there to facilitate. I really believe that the Health Service is collapsing around us, collapsing or being completely smothered by a bureaucratic gag of paperwork. For heaven's sake, those who are supposed to be improving things, look up from your laptops and calculators and see what is physically happening around you. OMG, I just had a thought, perhaps all other sectors of the NHS are fine, it might just be the maternity services that are in crisis. Why would that be? A Government plot to reduce the birth rate. Perhaps maternity services are not considered high profile enough to warrant investment. Poor management. Have to investigate this possibility of MS being the 'poor relation'.

Off my soap-box now. Today is my birthday meal, Hubby is cooking and all the family are coming round. My choice was cheese omelette and chips, I have been over-ruled. Apparently I don't really want that, I would much rather have a full roast dinner, beef, with all the trimmings. My protestations fell on deaf ears, so a roast dinner it is then.

9.4.06 11:59