Top medic STEPHEN SMITH says our NHS will never improve until the entire system has radical surgery

(This article was published by The Mail Online)

hospital nhs crowding

This article appeared in The Mail Online

You would think it easy to get things done as a professor in the NHS. Senior doctors are revered, after all: their opinion counts. But try to actually change anything and it’s a different story.

As a consultant gynaecologist and professor, some years ago at the Rosie Hospital — part of Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, one of the best hospitals in the country — I thought we should change the appointments system in our clinic.

The existing arrangement saw one batch of women called in at 9am, another at 11.30am. I got sick and tired of seeing these patients sitting in the waiting area, getting increasingly fed up.

A woman who comes through the door having been made to wait two hours is understandably angry, tired and resentful, especially if she’s been trying to entertain a screaming three-year-old. You’re not going to get the best account of someone’s medical history in those circumstances.

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