News of Wales - Issue 1
October 2005
Welsh Secretary Dr Richard Lewis argues that the fate of the NHS is safer in the hands of hobbits
There and Back Again? - A Hobbit’s View of Health and Wales.
In the first book of The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring – when things are looking grim, and the road ahead difficult, young Frodo Baggins wishes for a return to quieter times. He wishes that “events thus far had never taken place.”
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
I have no doubt that there will be many in Welsh politics this year who will have wished that “none of this had happened,” and perhaps they would welcome a return to quieter times. However, quiet times do not seem to be what the future holds for Wales, what with unexpected changes in balance of power and the opportunities deriving from devolution presenting thick and fast – and with them the obstacles to those opportunities too!
The National Assembly has a real chance to improve the health of the people of Wales – to create a health service that is the best of the best. This will only be achieved through strong partnerships based on trust. The powers to pioneer, to achieve the stated objective of a world beating system, is sometimes – tantalisingly – out of reach, such as banning smoking in public places, but for the time being we must make do with the powers that we already have.
What about BMA Cymru Wales? What is our response to the challenge of embarking on this adventure, what are we to do with the time that is given us?
BMA Cymru Wales is committed to continuing to improve services to its members in Wales - not only through support for individual members when in difficulty, but by collective representation, political lobbying and through influencing health policy in Wales. Devolution and the developing function of the National Assembly for Wales is giving a unique opportunity for the profession, through the work of BMA Cymru Wales, to help shape the landscape of health services in Wales. We can and must ensure that Wales is an attractive, exciting, rewarding and appreciative place for health professionals to come and work. The population of Wales deserves it.
BMA Cymru Wales has been to Mordor, has experienced the icy presence of the Wring Wraiths – but believes that there is good to be found everywhere. The support of the profession in Wales is crucial to the success of health services in Wales and I am optimistic that those tasked with delivering these services fully appreciate this and are as keen as we are to make it work.
Your views are essential to the planning of health services in Wales – make yourself heard – participate in the work of BMA Cymru Wales. There is no one better placed than you are to comment on how best health services should be delivered. If you are doubting your enormous value as a doctor in Wales, and can’t quite hear what I am saying…… your hearing maybe faulty - too many noisy orks, goblins and traitorous wizards shouting in your ears. Take the ring off - stop gazing into the mighty eye that is sapping your strength and undermining your confidence. Listen to me - no matter what people have been telling you - we really are the good guys.
I witnessed it on 7 July in my colleagues outside BMA House - I am so proud of what my colleagues - your colleagues - did to help the injured and the dying. I sound surprised?- not at all - check your hearing again - I’m not - these were exceptional circumstances to which our colleagues who were there responded exceptionally. But I know my colleagues - your colleagues – you - you are performing exceptionally every day, and what’s more our patients know it too.
We must return to valuing ourselves as a profession, as experts in our chosen vocation. We most times do know what is best for our patients - not from a position of paternalistic egotism - but because we have assimilated through our training and experience the knowledge, skills and attitudes, that allow us to practice our art which is above all about compassion, care and empathy for our fellow human beings. This is our stock in trade and we should not be forced to deny it or re-fashion it in the image that politicians, managers or lawyers would have us do.
I could have said we must value what we are and what we do because if we don’t no-one else will, but that would not be true, because the people that really matter in our evaluation - our patients - tell us time after time, survey after survey how much we are valued, appreciated and trusted - how galling that must be to some!
That’s not to say that we should not self reflect, develop and adapt - of course we should - but that is what the profession has been doing since its very beginnings.
BMA Cymru Wales is committed to representing the professional values of all doctors in Wales. To do this we need the support and membership of every doctor and medical student in Wales - to ensure what we say and do is fully representative - reflecting your collective views and aspirations. There is no better nor more exciting a time to be a member of the BMA - it may be easier to wish like Frodo that “the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened” – but the truth is we are the ring bearers – we always have been, and I don’t see that changing – we must have the courage of our vocation and do and say what we believe to be right – all the way to the fires of Mount Doom.
I would value your active participation in BMA Cymru Wales - come and help us to make a difference not only to the professional lives of doctors in Wales - but to the health and well being of our patients.
Help save Middle Earth.