I watched this year’s Boat Race … and it struck me once again that a rowing eight is a good metaphor for the NHS.
The ones who are doing all the work don’t know where they’re going and the one who knows where they’re going isn’t doing any of the work. He does, however, make an awful lot of noise.
You didn’t need to be a great oarsman to spot that a clash of oars was likely, and when it happened it was pretty clear to this landlubber which crew wasn’t holding its line, so not only was the little yappy one the only person who knew where his crew was going, he hadn’t managed to head them in the right direction.
Of course, that didn’t stop him blaming someone else when speaking to the umpire at the end.
Where should we be steering medicines in the NHS towards?
We can talk in general terms about the direction of travel, but sometimes you need to see examples because they give you some waypoints to follow on your own journey.
They might lead to better medicines reconciliation, smarter patient discharge, more effective patient support or cleverer prescribing, for example, but it’s good to learn from the experiences of others.
There’ll be lots of those examples at the Pharmacy Management National Forum (London, 18th November 2014).
Come along and see where others are going – you may want to follow.