So it is nearly the end of March and every Trust in the NHS is playing the same game. Yes the country that invented the four hour emergency target will be measured on its performance at the end of this month. So whilst we try our best to see everyone ina timely fashion throughout the year we make extra efforts this last month of the year, March. And that is because the incentive funding linked to the four hour target is based on performance in March – and to hell with the rest of the year. So FRACMA candidates, here is an exam question for you……
“You are the new EDMS of a health service. The service will receive 0.3% of its annual budget only if it meets the target of seeing and discharging more than 95% of patients attending ED within four hours, in the month of March. What strategies would you put in place to ensure you meet that target?”
And yes, every trust across the country is doing exactly that. We are usually between 90 and 96% month on month, an achievement most HHS in Queensland would kill for, but that is not good enough. We have to spend extra money to be sure we achieve an arbitrary target for the month of March, a month that is still essentially winter.
One of the interesting things I found when I arrived is that there are no clocks in the offices or meeting rooms. Nor are there any boxes of tissues. We provide our own tea, coffee, milk and washing up liquid. I suppose that saves quite a bit of money, and you do get to choose your favourite brand! It costs me about £10/month so assuming the staff is 2000 that is £20,000/month, £240,000 a year, not to be sneezed at. And it does drive a number of people to the coffee shop in the atrium, which feeds back into the Trust, win win.
Brexit update. Would love to give an update but the chaos deepens, just when we all thought it could get no worse. Official communication from “The Centre” is that we should continue to plan for No Deal. My taxi driver summed it up. Two of his family voted leave and two voted stay. The country was almost exactly divided into two. However now the division is not so even, now the lies have been exposed. Where to next-no one can tell us. May has promised to resign if everyone agrees she has done the impossible and got a plan MP’s can agree to. Counterintuitive. Conservative MP’s have agreed to resign if Boris Johnstone is made PM. Many have jumped the gun and resigned already. The country is just resigned.
ProdigalDoc 