Why the NHS is doomed to fail, and other fun childhood stories

Those of you unfortunate enough to know me and have spent any time in my presence over the last year will know I've been getting some refurbishment done to my house. I know, I know #moetmedics, probably just having another wing added on etc... During this time, where the builder has not-quite-got-round-to-installing my kitchen over a period of 6 months whilst ironically moaning at every turn about how the NHS is terrible and doctors don't know what they are doing, it got me to thinking: What if the NHS was staffed by tradesmen? So a case study then, say your child has Meningitis. And if certain consultants were to have their way, EVERYONE'S baby would ALWAYS have meningitis (even when it was actually just a cold, or indeed, nothing at all). First you'd spend several days to months trying to find someone who actually gives a shit. You'd ring a couple of people that your friends recommended like 'Trusty Dave - no infection too big, no platelet level too sm...

I could just tell you that, despite it being 2017, NHS IT software is still terrible. I could tell you that the amount of time taken contending with this badly designed garbage is often more time than it takes to see the patient. But instead I'll tell you a story... Picture a damp Tuesday morning, sometime in early February. A balding pot bellied man in an ill fitted suit scurries across a road, dense with early morning traffic. Using some soggy documents as cover from the rain, he hurries towards the doors of a shiny PFI built hospital. He enters the building and finds his way to the Corporate Board Room, wherein several important hospital executives sit. "I'm terribly sorry I'm late", says the man (whose name is Baldo) dabbing hot dog mustard from his shirt with a damp contract agreement "car broke down" "No problem", replies the CEO of the hospital, "Have you got the presentation to show us?" Baldo withdraws an ageing IBM Th...