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Like healthcare - only cheaper

In the 25 years that I have worked in health care (30 if you count my training) I have watched and observed as commercial, philosophy and elements have entered and intertwined through aspects of health care, where they never exist before.

This was billed as a good thing, an ability to save money and be more efficient and more effective, but for many and a million of different angles, people saw chance, to make a living and more.

The reaction to this, is the necessity to become more efficient and to cost save and to reduce the financial impact, while maintaining a profit on maintaining the service.

The industrialisation and corporatisation of the National Health Service is one of the examples.

This year will mark 4 years since my last involvement with the NHS after I have committed over 20 years of my life working at least, within that environment.

I have referenced back a couple of times recently to the Adam Kay book (This is going to hurt).

In the description of what it was like for him working in that environment in 2010.

I am reminded of the good parts of working within the NHS and what I enjoyed, and the feeling of satisfaction of helping people across the board, delivering care “free at the point of delivery” or as much as dentists realised that.

The problem for me was, the pressure to compromise and force things downwards.

All of us that work in health care, live in a world where, health care economics plays an important consideration in everything that we do, but the rationalisation of health care from a central funding pot made it really, really difficult for me to see a way forwards within the National Health Service arrangements.

By the time I was deciding whether to stay in or get out in 2015, it had been 9 years since I'd provided general dentistry in the National Health Service.

By Colin Campbell on 27/08/19 18:00