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.

Continue reading in The Mail Online