Where's the president?

In the early days of my blog, in June last year I wrote a post about the President of the GMC, Sir Graeme Catto. I was unaware at that time, and have in fact found out only recently, that Catto resigned as president of the GMC in 2009, so was not president at the time of writing. Since no-one commented on that error I can only assume that no-one else noticed his departure either.

Now you would have thought that it would be a simple enough matter to find out who the current president is, but after an hour searching the web today I am still none the wiser. The GMC has it's own web site, an unbelievably poor and amateurish site, which makes no mention that I can find of a president.

Does the GMC currently have a president? Who is it? Can anyone enlighten me?

Is the needle stuck?

This is the most bizarre interview I have ever seen.

Breast is best

We have come a long way since a woman could be arrested for breast feeding in public. There is a general consensus now that breast feeding is to be encouraged and considered a perfectly acceptable thing to do anywhere. There is always somebody who will kick the arse out of it though isn't there.

Wanking again

If masturbation really did prevent prostate cancer, there would be no such thing as prostate cancer.

Impressions

In a comment to my last post, Single Female Doc said...

“To be fair, they're probably shitting themselves in fear when you come near them”

So, is this how DZ comes across on his blog then?

Attention span

What is it with some patients these days, particularly the younger ones, who are attached to their electronic devices like siamese twins. In the last few weeks I have had;

A patient on the ward whose gaze remained fixed on her TV screen while I was talking to her. Not once did she look at me.

A clinic patient who texted constantly during her consultation.

A patient who kept his earpiece in and the music playing while I was trying to elicit a history. 

Is it too much to ask these ill mannered fuckers to give me their undivided attention while I am trying to provide them with health care that they have sought?

What do you suppose would happen if I gave them the slap they deserve?

Pensions

As you may have noticed from those children unexpectedly under your feet there is a public sector strike today, protesting about pension reform. Doctors are one of the few groups of public sector employees not involved, although the issue is highly relevant to us, and we should be watching closely to see how this issue resolves.

No group contemplating industrial action can ignore public opinion. Any strikers who do not have strong public support are doomed to fail no matter what their cause as governments know that they will gain kudos from standing up to them. So does the public sector have public sympathy? NO they fucking don’t! It would be astounding if they did. What they are striking for is to retain a huge discrepancy in pension arrangements between the public and private sectors. A discrepancy regarded with some justification as grossly unfair. (1) (2) (3)

Doctors are very well paid public sector employees. Our representatives, the BMA, should be taking on board the obvious lack of sympathy shown by the public towards this issue, and perhaps keeping their heads well down. But are they?  No, not only are the BMA also making threats over the same issue, that fool Porter is still stamping his foot over CEAs.

Let’s just see what that means in raw numbers. If the government were to acquiesce on the issues of pensions and CEAs then that would result in a possible pension for a consultant retiring at 60, with just a bronze award, of about £65,000pa. And let’s not forget the lump sum, tax free.

In the current climate these sorts of pensions can not be considered fair or sustainable. The BMA should wind it’s neck in and accept that we too have to take some share of the financial pain, rather than being considered special and protected. Because stamping their foot over these issues is just going to earn us a reputation as greedy selfish bastards. With no small justification.