Some shocking and surprising statistics from the news

 A few stats caught my eye last week.

The first was that nearly a third of female NHS surgeons have been sexually assaulted by a colleague over the past five years. The British Journal of Surgery reporting a survey of over 1000 surgeons, the largest of its kind, also said that two thirds of women working in surgery report having been sexually harassed by a colleague in or around the operating theatre. Wow! What on earth is going on in the NHS? I don't blame the government for this - the issue is clearly one for NHS management. No wonder they can't run a system which properly reports and assesses patient safety, to the extent of allowing babies to be murdered, when they can't even run a management and HR system capable of keeping their own female staff safe. This report was in the Times.

The original version of the Hippocratic oath went:

“I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgement; I will abstain from harming or wronging any man by it”

Maybe they need to make clear to male doctors that includes women colleagues as well as patients. 

The second came from the Guardian which reported that, while 84% of medical students say they will complete their first two years foundation training, nearly a third say they will leave the NHS within two years of graduating either to practice abroad or pursue other careers. If that transpires I will blame the government for letting it happen. I expect most folk would agree that doctors should serve a minimum time in the NHS to repay the investment we have made in them. Indeed Jeremy Hunt proposed it should be four years when he was still health secretary in 2016 but I don't think it was implemented*. 

There are arguments to be made either way on a "lock in". For a start I'm not sure when a doctor counts as "qualified". After a typical five year medical course, trainee doctors spend two foundation years as house officers and two more as senior house officers before becoming a registrar in year 10. While continuing professional development implies training is never actually complete, after 15 years it is offically complete and doctors are eligible to become a consultant.  However, the GMC say that full registration is achieved after the first foundation year**. The survey question made it sound as if medical students are contemplating bunking off around then which, for me, is definitely not repaying the investment and commitment the NHS has made in them.  I accept that locking people in to contracts isn't easy but there must be ways in this case. For example, if a doctor leaves before a reasonable number of years of service, say five or perhaps seven, then their qualifications could be revoked. Other countries might still take them, though they may be wary if told that the NHS will not vouch for or confirm the training of the person in any way and will not even confirm that the individual has ever worked with the NHS. And they would be burning their bridges about coming back.

This issue is even harder to tackle in the middle of the biggest programme of strike action being taken by hospital doctors, but that actually makes it all the more important to tackle. The deal traditionally offerred to doctors is to work long hours for moderate pay while training so they can coin it later. Perhaps a restructuring of the whole career path is needed to resolve the various issues. One can't imagine this being easily achieved by a Conservative government but maybe a Labour one could. On the other hand I don't care for the doctors - or any other group - trying to choose our government. Of course that's their aim - "kick out the Tories" it says on their posters. How much will they sulk when they find Labour won't pay their 35% pay increase either? (That stat sticks in my throat nearly enough to require a Heimlich manoeuvre).

I recall that Mrs Thatcher felt her work in reforming the British economy was far from complete. She specifically felt the professions needed bringing in to line. More than thrity years on that remains the case.

The third stat I spotted was the Co-op reporting that police attend only 20% of cases where they apprehend a shoplifter, so they have to let them go. (The police say this is wrong, it's all of 37%). The government can take some blame for this also: it effectively decriminalised shoplifting to the value of £200 a couple of years ago. While in theory a sentence of up to six months is possible, generally it's no arrest and a fixed penalty of £70 leaving plenty of scope for profit even if nicked. This was presumably the calculation made by the woman who presented herself at the checkout in our local TK Maxx being operated by one of our friends. The 'shopper' presented two low price items for purchase while clearly toting many more in her bags. She was found to have come armed with a device to remove security tags while trying on.

Bizarrely above £200 a sentence of up to seven years is in principle available. In March the ONS reported that shoplifting was up 22% in the year to September. I'm sure it has gone up a lot more since and I expect lots of noise to be made about the issue at the Tory party conference. But surely changes could just be made by administrative action? Don't just spout about it, do something!

As you can tell I'm 100% cheesed off.

 

* Should junior doctors do 5 years of mandatory NHS service after they qualify? My Health Service Navigator,  https://www.myhsn.co.uk/whats-hot/should-junior-doctors-do-5-years-of-mandatory-nhs-service-after-they-qualify#:~:text=In%20March%202017%2C%20the%20then,to%20return%20to%20NHS%20work.

** Becoming a doctor in the UK. General Medical Council website

*** https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shoplifters-repeat-offences-prison-home-office-b2385740.html