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Physician, Heal Thyself
The NHS needs a voice of its own

By Duncan Smith
May 2002
Spokesman Books
ISBN: 0-85124-667-2
40 pages[cover]
$7.95 paper original


This pamphlet suggests that instead of imposing on Britain's National Health Service new ideas from the top down, what is needed is a means by which the wisdom and dedication of the staff, which is displayed in the wards and the surgeries, should be used to carry out the necessary changes. Duncan Smith describes how the Department of Health and particularly its predecessor the DHSS, have failed to provide a coherent development and training policy or any kind of consultation machinery. He explains how a Staff College and a new cadre of 'organizational clinicians' could call on the best brains of the Service and connect them with a wide spectrum of staff in the 'front line'. All those who would like to steer the present commotion into constructive channels should consider these proposals.

Health Care; Politics
Socialist Renewal, Third Series, No. 2