Originally posted by sonhouse
In short they don't give a crap about whether a doctor will make mistakes because he has been on the operating table for 15 hours straight.
No I don't think that is it at all.
There are almost certainly exceptions, but most of these people really are not cartoon
villains trying to screw everyone over.
They are just trying to solve an impossible-to-solve problem that they have created for themselves
because in their minds they have ruled out the options that would allow them to actually solve it.
Now over in the USA one party seems to have become dominated by actual cartoon villains, but
over here, the Conservative party is ideologically closer to [but not the same as] your Democratic party,
and is helmed by people who generally believe that their ideology is correct and are just following
through on what they believe to be true.
They are wrong, and demonstrably so... Which is why we need much more evidence based policy
making which is something no party currently offers [here or in the USA]... But they are not actually
evil cartoon villains in the main... Just people labouring under a shared delusion.
Fundamentally we need many more doctors [and other staff] so that we can have adequate staffing 24/7
and those people need to be paid accordingly, [barring in mind the huge debts accrued to become a doctor
as well as the required skill levels etc] but that would require a LOT more money.
Every other department is already cut to the bone AND expecting more cuts, so this would have to come from
more revenue generation or borrowing.... Both of which this government has ruled out...
I also note, that these negotiations would be with the Ministry of Health... But it's the Treasury that sets the
budget. The Treasury has said no tax increases or borrowing, and so the Ministry of Health has to try to solve
this without any more money... Which leads to 'solutions' like the one offered.
It's a bureaucratic mess, created by a bad ideology and basic incompetence... Not anyone being evil or
believing that doctors are crazy super people or anything. It's far more mundane than that.
And it's important to realise this because how you deal with the problem is different when dealing with
bureaucratic incompetence and entrenched ideology as opposed to dealing with evil villains.