Akusoli scam

 I haven't done a scam post for some time, though they seem to be my most popular. Akusoli are insoles with magnets in, purported to reduce various aches and pains, and also reduce body fat, by acupressure. A pair will set you back £30 to £90 depending on whatever offer they are offering at the time.

Interestingly trustpilot reviews are generally favorable. Until you read them. It looks as if they get their customers to write a review as part of the ordering process, meaning that the review writer hasn't actually tried them yet. Reviews from those who have received and used them are, unsurprisingly, not so positive.

And there is no reason why they should be. Acupuncture, and acupressure are both alternative medicine practices with no credible or reputable research showing any benefit. Oh, come on. Does it sound feasible that magnetic insoles would have any effect. Get real!

But the sellers know full well how slimming and pain relieving products appeal to the desperate. The advertising blurb for these things is bullshit, with numerous pseudoscientific claims, all fallacious, and the product itself manifest garbage. 

Save your money. Don't be taken in.

Appraisal fails yet again.

 Great Ormond Street Hospital has long been regarded in the UK as providing the very best in NHS paediatric care. So this story about one of their former orthopaedic surgeons is exceptionally worrying. Like the case of Ian Paterson, Mr Yaser Jabbar seems to have been performing botched and mutilating surgery for some years, before finally being stopped. Sadly, as soon as the shit hit the fan Mr Jabbar decided he didn't want to face the music, and fucked off sharpish to Dubai.

It's clear that he had been underperforming for some time, and concerns raised with the Trust from unhappy parents were ignored by management. And once more one of the guilty is the Medical Director. What is it with Medical Directors?

Finally the Trust asked the Royal College of Surgeons to review the problem, prompted by the sheer volume of complaints from parents and staff.

Notice if you will, one glaring absence from the list of those who apprehended this guy. The General Medical Council. I thought they were supposed, through the appraisal and revalidation system, to pick up these problems early on.

It couldn't be could it, that appraisal is totally ineffective in this, or any other objective? Surely not. That would mean it was a total, complete and utter waste of time and resources