Beds and bugs

I’m thinking of retiring from medical practice in 2012 – on 9 June (i.e. my 65th birthday) or 30 June (i.e. the 2011/2 financial year’s end). It’s not that I’m not doing good work – I reckon my work currently is as good as it’s ever been. Rather I’ve had enough of The System. Greedy governments, mad medical indemnity insurance, crazy continuing professional development decrees. And on it goes. Bureaucrats, bean counters and other assorted apparatchiks have gotten the better of me. They’re all bastards. They’ve worn me down. Smooth as a river stone. I’ve done my best. Held out for as long as I can. But two more years will see me out. Maybe I’ll change my mind. I doubt it, though.

At least I no longer do hospital work. Thankfully. I’ve previously written of hospital bans on lab coats, ties, below-elbow sleeves, watches, and even long fingernails [1]; also bedside flowers [2]. The latest news from the UK – which has lost the plot as a nation – is a ban on sitting on patients’ beds. The response to this lunacy from near [3] and far [4] is negative. Vehemently so. I agree. Some of my best hospital work occurred during quiet chats with patients – with them in bed, and me sitting on the bed holding their hand.

But, I know, I’m a sheep man in cattle country. And yesterday’s man. Or if I’m not now I will be in two years time. Ho hum.