Question time

I wouldn't consider myself a fan of BBC's Question Time, but as I do have a moderate interest in politics I tune in occasionally. Last night I switched it on (admittedly because at the time there was nothing else on!) and found myself getting very involved in the debates.

The main debate that caught my attention surrounded the NHS Reforms, and put Andrew Lansley right in the spotlight.

Whilst there were many points from all sides that can be praised and criticised, I just want to pull apart a few.

Firstly, and as far as I'm concerned the most important was the lack of recognition that there are more than just doctors and nurses working in the NHS. Obviously as an OT I feel very strongly about the (lack of) promotion and recognition of our skills and services in the public domain but there are many other Allied Health Professionals out there who face similar situations. If those who are ultimately in charge of all these reforms cannot acknowledge this breadth of sets of unique skills, what hope have we got??

Whilst I understand and respect the fact that we have to be more confident in our promotional skills, this change needs to be reflected and aided by government and media otherwise it will be pointless. I know that there are many OTs out there who champion their services and that BAOT/COT have been involved in a lot of the discussion stages of this current reform and the general public need to be aware of this. I recently heard awareness of OT referred to as "most people have never heard of us or what we do, but once someone has benefited from OT they will never forget the impact".

A second point that I found fascinating was the results of a word count in one of the versions of the white paper. I will admit that personally I have not been able to read the full document - I agree with the comments about it being 'unreadable' - however I find it a frightening thought that "competition" is being, formally and officially, put in front of "integration" and "cooperation". Surely this renders everything that I have been taught in all my inter professional modules about collaborative working and service user involvement, useless?

Whilst I find myself agreeing with some of the reasons behind the reform - more accountability, more patient involvement and relevant professionals involved in decision making - I definitely think that Lansley has gone about it in completely the wrong way, and not listened or taken note of the opinions of professionals, patients and the general public who disagree.