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Fifteen Minutes to be a General Physician

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in the UK and recently spent six months back in the UK working in a District Hospital.

If you have watched the TV series ‘House’ you will have some idea of what a General Physician does. In North America they are often called ‘Internists’ because they practice ‘Internal Medicine’. Internal and General Medicine are the same…

CPR for the NHS (9): Finale – putting ‘Health’ back into the NHS

 Right care, right place, right  time,  by the right person.

  I’m a consultant physician working in New Zealand. Recently I came back to the UK to work for siix months in an NHS District Hosptial.

The NHS does many things incredibly well. Quite rightly, public health care in the UK is the envy of many countries. Despite this, there are a lot of senior doctors who think the NHS unlikely to…

CPR for the NHS (8): Honesty

Keeping things honest

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in the UK and recently spent six months back in the UK working in a District Hospital.

In the drive to get ‘value for  money’ NHS consultant (hospital specialist) contracts, once vague and flexible, are now micromanaged. For me every minute I was paid was accounted for. In contrast, the job contract and…

CPR for the NHS (7): Sex and the Hospital

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in the UK and recently spent six months back in the UK working in a District Hospital.

The hardest thing about moving far from home is the family you leave behind. When they need you, you are not there. Back over in the UK for important birthday celebrations I did manage to make this visit coincide with one family member…

CPR for the NHS (6): Earthquakes and bed crises

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in the UK and recently spent six months back in the UK working in a District Hospital.

The care of the acutely unwell medical patient at the NHS hospital I worked in was amazing. It could seem like chaos, but it wasn’t. With skeleton staffing patients were adeptly triaged, treated and investigated quickly, then moved to a…

CPR for the NHS (5) – computer capers

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in the UK. Recently I spent 6 months working back in the NHS. The NHS could learn a lot from what is happening in public health in New Zealand.

Computer capers

Like other public bodies, the NHS has a reputation for spending large sums of money on computer systems that don’t work. It is said over two billion pounds was wasted…

CPR for the NHS (4): less grind, better outcomes.

NHS SOS (3) Clinic Chaos: Treating Patients Badly

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in the UK and have worked as…

CPR for the NHS.... innovation....

Make innovation the norm

I’m a consultant physician currently working in New Zealand. I trained in…

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