... I suddenly realised that to you I am abstract.
I was sitting at home reading a newsletter that you had sent me (or one of your team members had sent me) and then I was looking out to my garden and I realised that this is in fact the problem.
To you I exist in the abstract.
I am not actually a person. I have no feeling, no emotion, no hurt, no fear. To you I am to be controlled, a widget to be measured, a sheep to be placed in a pen to do what he is told.
I understand why you may feel that that approach is necessary but I am sure that it is not the best approach.
I am sure that the best of leaders do not live in the abstract and do not see their ‘constituents’ as abstract.
I do not believe that Barack Obama instituted Obama Care in the USA because he felt that the less advantaged people in his country existed in the abstract.
I do not believe that Nelson looked upon the people of his homeland in the abstract.
I believe they both showed exceptional examples of leadership.
The problem with imagining that everyone in my profession exists in the abstract is to regulate me and control me in a way that is at risk of putting patients in harms way.
It is to imagine that all of my colleagues and I are doing things wrong every day when in fact every day we are caring. It is to imagine that all we see is a profit when in fact all we see is to help, cure and fix.
And so a suggestion (and this will come from me via a letter), in November of this year my wonderful team and I will be holding a conference in Nottingham for the second time to investigate the concept of failure within dental health care. It aims to explore what happens when things go wrong (which they often do) and how we can all learn from this, share experiences and become better for the benefit of our patients, our teams and ourselves. It will be an emotional day and we will not be living in the abstract, we will have a pilot who will tell us the difference between individual and system failures and how they are handled in aviation. We will have a cardiologist who will tell us about medical problems, much more serious than those in dentistry. We will also have one of my patients who suffered a serious and significant complication at my hand who is happy to stand up and say why he did not think it was reasonable to send me to my regulator.
I encourage you to attend and to bring as many of your team members as you would like. I feel it would be of huge benefit for all of you to see us as individuals, as people, people who work in health care. Just hit reply to this email, tell me that you would like to come and I will make the necessary arrangements. I will personally pay for your ticket as I think in the end it would be hugely advantageous to patients to see you there. I truly hope you feel able to accept.
Best wishes
Colin
Blog post number: 1385
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