My
Outlook Calendar regularly
becomes littered with acronyms and abbreviations describing what it is I am to do. For example, the week started with an
OMG (Operational Management Group) meeting with the Schools Directors, quickly
followed by a
EMB (Executive Management Board) strategic planning day. Late
afternoon it was agreeing the
CRaIC College Research and Innovation agenda, and
that was Monday. Tuesday, it was a day of back to back meetings, including preparing for a
FfPP (Fitness for Professional Practice) Appeal and a FfPP Panel hearing
to be heard later in the week.
Wednesday I had to make my apologies
to the
GMW (Greater Manchester West NHS Mental Health Trust) Members meeting as
the
HCPC (Health and Care Professional Council) and
TCSW (The College of Social
Work) were starting the first of a
2 day approval visit for what was to be the
third
SU3 (Step Up – Social Work
3) programme. By Thursday we learnt we were
going to be recommended for approval by the HCPC and endorsed by TCSW and we
were going to do so on the back of such good feedback from students on their experience,
and employers because of the high quality newly qualified Social Workers they
were able to employ.
Friday and we had the HENW
(Health Education North West) ARM (Annual Review Meeting). The ARM is an occasion
to see if the School had met the quality assurance targets set by the HENW for
our NHS (National Health Service) commissions - and we had! Again it was
wonderful to see and hear the reports from our students who found their
lecturers inspirational, motivating, and supportive.
So things were going well. And then
I came across the news from the former NHS
CMO (Chief Medical Officer -
Sir
Liam Donaldson) that doctors over the age of
55 are
6 times more likely to give rise to major performance concerns. In fact
6179 doctors had caused concern over the last
10 years according to Donaldson. Male doctors were twice as likely as female
doctors, particularly those working obstetrics, gynaecology, and psychiatry, to
be referred to the
NCAS (National Clinical Assessment Service).
Now I was totally confused. I thought the report
was about the recently formed
NCA (National Crime Agency) - the
British equivalent
of the
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). I wondered what on earth they
were doing getting involved with the performance of doctors? Well I guess that
one explanation might be that as far back as
2000,
Dr Richard Smith, the then Editor
of the
BMJ (British Medical Journal) reported that up to
30,000 people a year in Britain
die of medical errors with many more people being injured and suffer other consequences.
The president of the
GMC (General
Medical Council) at the time,
Sir Donald Irvine said it was a complete fallacy
to think that doctors should be expected never to make mistakes – and that as medicine
is a judgement based discipline, it is inevitable that mistakes will happen. Of
course, on this occasion the mistake I made was confusing the NCAS with the NCA
(and what is an
S between friends?) – however it’s possible to see how such tiny differences
in understanding, perception or experience, can lead to at best confusion, and
at worse, utter destructiveness.
Last week, in a parallel universe
that is my world as Head of School, I experienced a little of this. It wasn't a
good place to be. However, taking a step back, I was reminded of my long term
desire to show unconditional regard to others by recalling the words of one of my all-time favourite
poets
T S Eliot – in his book the
Cocktail Party, he noted that:
‘half the harm
that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t
mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or
they justify it because that are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well
of themselves’. Today, thankfully, marks the start of a new week. And a big thank you to all of you who chose to read my
Empathy blog - you have truly helped spread the word in such a magnificent way.
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