Public involvement in health care
http://www.100md.com
《英国医生杂志》
EDITOR—Having retired and moved away from the area in which I worked I have become an increasing user of the NHS and find it impossible to get worthwhile information on which to make a balanced judgment about things that should be counted easily.
The informal local knowledge that was available and useful is no longer available to me. My general practitioner, who is excellent, knows only the local services and does not know what their results are.
I needed a hernia repair—but surgical results are not available. Local anaesthesia and day case surgery as your editorial recommends—no information available, and in particular, no warning that the surgeon has an unrealistic belief in the rapidity of onset of action of local anaesthetic. Need another hip replacement? No information about results to help with the decision whether to travel back to London, or have surgery locally.
If we take public involvement in health care seriously, and if we believe in using industrial processes in health care, on which the same issues carries articles, this is not good enough. I have to disagree with Einstein and with McKee1—these things can and ought to be counted, and they do count.
Martin W McNicol, retired doctor
Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1FA mcnicol@globalnet.co.uk
Competing interests: MM is an active NHS service user.
References
McKee M. Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that can be counted counts. BMJ 2004;328: 163. (17 January.)
The informal local knowledge that was available and useful is no longer available to me. My general practitioner, who is excellent, knows only the local services and does not know what their results are.
I needed a hernia repair—but surgical results are not available. Local anaesthesia and day case surgery as your editorial recommends—no information available, and in particular, no warning that the surgeon has an unrealistic belief in the rapidity of onset of action of local anaesthetic. Need another hip replacement? No information about results to help with the decision whether to travel back to London, or have surgery locally.
If we take public involvement in health care seriously, and if we believe in using industrial processes in health care, on which the same issues carries articles, this is not good enough. I have to disagree with Einstein and with McKee1—these things can and ought to be counted, and they do count.
Martin W McNicol, retired doctor
Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1FA mcnicol@globalnet.co.uk
Competing interests: MM is an active NHS service user.
References
McKee M. Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that can be counted counts. BMJ 2004;328: 163. (17 January.)