Medical politics-endless chaos. More good than harm?

The current medical politics in this area has never been peaceful. From European Working Time Directives impacting on junior doctors, GP new contracts, new consultant contract, agenda for change for all NHS staff till the current PBC and white paper. Doctors are generally under a lot of stresses of so called accountability. In short, doctors need to show evidence of their professional competence in caring for the patients. On one hand, it is a good thing as it provides some defensive framework to check dangerous doctors and protecting patients from sub-standard care. On the other hand, it has impinged an onus onto doctors' workload. What is not so appreciated by the Department of Health is the majority of doctors are working within their limit of their professional competence as well as according to their good will. Many of them have run extra miles to ensure excellent quality of care given to their patients. To most of them, being doctor is not just a job, but a passion to do good, to do no harm and to respect patients.

As a result of that, the roles of doctors are getting marginalised and almost devalued by the constant media biased report of dangerous practice. It demoralised this traditionally self disciplined but dignified group of profession. The politicians want to remove the respects from the doctors, they also even want to remove the creditability of their contribution to the society. Sadly the public has been misled and thanfully not all of them believe in what they say.

Being a doctor does provide such a valuable opportunity of doing good to the community. Admittedly, there are some who has turned to the dark side, exploiting the systems and finding loop holes to reap as much benefit as possible. What is not apparent to most outsiders is that there is a fine difference between doctors who works just for money and those whose best interest is to serve the patients but expecting a decent income. The motivation are there among doctors and the main drive is not necessarily financial rewards. Deep down we are proud to be doctors not because of how much we earn but because of how much we enjoy giving good clinical care to the patients.

If the DOH remove that main drive, the pride of being a doctor, then they are going to shatter the foundation of good quality care. Whether they want to believe it or not, the whole health care system in UK, NHS and primary care, is still depending strongly on the good will of all these people, doctors and nurses, the frontline people who actually involve the people that matters, the ill patients. Once the good will is removed. The NHS will be commercialised and depersonalised. Patients would be treated as clients: I am here just to do my job, get my earning and I don't really care.

Good clinical care doesn't mean you have scored all the points, achieved all the targets, practiced according to the guidelines and protocols and not getting sued. Good clinical care means a warm, well meaning, therapeutic and holistic relationship between doctors and patients where similar care was delivered in a unique and worthy way in which patient can be cherished and respected . Can the politicians understand what love means?

Sadly but not surprisingly, love, as usual, instead of being valued, is taken for granted.