The Dead Hand of Bureaucracy

Nanny, not content with setting hospitals ever more demanding targets, has set up over 100 organisations with the power to carry out inspections.

These “added value” inspectorates include:

-Clinical supervisors
-Auditors
-Ombudsmen
-Risk assessors

Needless to say, each time an “inspector calls”, hospital staff find their precious time being diverted to pay homage to the demands of the men from the ministry.

The consequence being that patients’ healthcare suffers; as the “dead hand of bureaucracy” ties up resources, and stifles any initiatives aimed at improving the well being of patients.

Given the number of inspectorates, it is not surprising to learn that their inspections often overlap.

However, to expect them to co-ordinate their reviews is asking too much. The inspectorates are run by “brain dead” automatons, who relish their opportunity to wield “power”. They have no intention of giving up their new found authority.

Nanny claims that the bureaucracy will be “streamlined”. Needless to say this is “Nanny speak” for obfuscated. Apparently a “concordat” of inspectorates will be set up to co-ordinate the information gleaned from inspections, the alleged aim being to speed up the inspections.

I suspect that this “concordat” (whatever that means), will merely add yet another layer of bureaucracy to the already overburdened health service.

What Nanny seeks to destroy, she first regulates and inspects to death.