Empty Chairs & Empty Tables, Mr Hunt?

Yes that's right, graduates and a number of empty seats!

I took this picture when I attended a Graduation Ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall on 19 October 2015.

The people sitting on those seats are recent graduates of the MBBS; the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery - they also hold as a minimum, a BSc in their chosen field.

These are the young men and women who have sweated blood and tears to get themselves through the 6 year training program to become Doctors; many are now scattered around the country providing that first line cover at your local hospital!

I discovered from those that I knew, that the hours that they work are nothing short of insane; had we really gone back to the future?

As I had previously been a Clinical Negligence lawyer, it made me wonder how many of them would end up making mistakes all for the want of some rest? My previous work on Negligence cases had caused me to seriously question what I was doing and whilst there are some medical and nursing practitioners whose skill and care are questionable, I often wondered how and why Doctors found themselves at the sharp end of a potential lawsuit. My new-found knowledge of how the medical profession trains and works has answered that question; in short we are training highly skilled people and treating them like they are slaves!

As a Society, not only do we tolerate the turning of the screw during their training, we then expect impossibly high standards in the face of some balance sheet or 'this is the way we trained' logic.

I make no apologies for my observations because we have to primarily ask ourselves; what type of society do we really want to create; do we want high skill and care from robust analytical thinkers or just the illusion of a highly trained workforce who are essentially enslaved and ideally submissive?

Which would you prefer Mr Hunt?

My next point now turns to the empty seats.

Newly qualified Doctors had reserved these seats some several months in advance, with the clear desire to attend this milestone ceremony, along with their family and friends; the empty seats clearly illustrate that for whatever reason, they could not attend.

I began to understand that the possible reason for the majority of the empty seats, was because many of them had been subsequently advised of their shift rota, which clashed with the ceremony; some I discovered had only been apparently advised some 2/3 days in advance of the ceremony and they naturally felt obligated to satisfy the shift!

I suspected that no leeway was offered by their new employers, no alternative cover presented and I was led to understand that there would be little chance of a refund or other monetary compensation for the tickets that they had bought for the ceremony!

I decided to investigate further; I asked several of the newly qualified Doctors about this empty seat scandal and the obligations on personal lives! I was told that Doctors often 'tolerate' last minute changes to their personal schedule, in favour of their working schedule. I heard of one Doctor and his expensive walking holiday to North America; his schedule was apparently presented shortly before he was due to depart and was advised that he could not take the holiday. He had to cancel the holiday and lost a lot of money because he couldn't sell it on nor it would seem, claim off his travel insurance! Another told me of one Doctor couple who were about to go on their honeymoon; their work schedule was presented just before they got married, only to reveal that one of them was required to work during the second week of their honeymoon - they had to change their plans and lost money into the bargain; I discovered that there were many other stories like this!

 I wondered; would such workplace inflexibility be tolerated in any other profession, by blue collar workers or indeed by Members of Parliament?

 Now Mr Hunt, please forgive me for being one of those many ill-informed people you were complaining about the other week, but, does this seem right to you? Does this suggest to you a rabid profession? Does it suggest inflexibility?Are they not already subsidising the 7 day NHS you so desire and imagine doesn't exist through a vocational acceptance that their work comes first - exactly how much pound of corporate flesh do you actually want?

Spare a thought now for what lies behind the empty seats at the Royal Albert Hall and the missed opportunity to celebrate with their families and friends those hard years of sacrifice; Mr Hunt, how exactly are you going to recognise these wonderful young people and their supportive families and how are you going to ensure that future graduates and their families never miss an important event like this again; I think that it's important that you answer this and many of my other questions - don't you?

© Frank Brehany 2015 - All Rights Reserved (First Published 28/12/15)