Friday, March 30, 2007

MMC Big Daddy Resigns

Professor Crockard, National Director of MMC, marches out of the MMC bunker for good

I was online at FrontPoint Systems (yes, so I was procrastinating again. What's it to you? YOU AIN'T THE BOSS O' ME!* --Editor) when he broke the news that Professor Alan Crockard, the National Director of Moderning Medical Careers (MMC) has resigned. Read his full story here, and the full letter of resignation at Dr Rant here. (Link not safe for kids. Don't bother with noisy grown-ups arguing, li'l tykes, go play a Teletubbies game or something. --Ed)

Let's take a break from revision together, folks, and take a look at ol' Crocky's letter. In it he simultaneously plays both hero AND villain (a feat previously only managed by President Bush --Ed). He says "The principles of MMC are laudable and I stand by them. More patients should be treated by trained doctors, rather than doctors in training."

Forgive me, for I am but a humble overworked medic, not blessed by the abundance of brain cells required for a position of such great responsibility, but I fail to see how exactly we are supposed to GET trained doctors unless we LET doctors-in-training treat patients.

However towards the end he nicely states "But the overriding message coming back from the profession is that it has lost confidence in the current recruitment system." There we go. At least he's acknowledged that doctors don't bloody like MMC, without resorting to the whole ignore-doctors-won't-apologise-lalala-I-can't-hear-you stance of the Department of Health. If he stepped down in genuine protest at how the system is treating doctors in such a haphazard manner, and if he is not a traitor like the complaint lodged against him suggests, then he is truly worthy of applause.

So c'mon, folks, join me in celebrating by putting this on repeat on your playlist, courtesy of the brilliant DogHorse. Turn the volume up real loud - it's great for accompanying revision!

* unless you're my Director of Studies/Senior Tutor/supervisor, in which case, sorry, sir. I'm heading back to the library now, sir. Honest.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

raaarrrrrr!!! i do not want to be back in cambridge!!! grrrrrr..

Phoenix said...

You're way behind time, mate. I broke this news at 5pm yesterday. Over 24 hours before you.

Perhaps the revision is taking its toll on you after all?

The Angry Medic said...

HP: Yeah yeah, you got there first, Phoenix is the greatest, etc etc. Happy? :)

You ARE after all, a proper doc. I'm just a poor brain-damaged medic...I'd be worried if people looked to me for authoritative medical news. I'm not even an authoritative source on the function of the spinothalamic pathway in the brain! (And I should be.)

Calavera said...

Oh come on! The spinothalamic tract is EASY!

Anonymous said...

Spinothalamic what?

Sheesh, you have time to blog but no time to buy plane tickets and meet your friends and get a life is it?

Phoenix said...

I prefer the dorsal columns myself

The Angry Medic said...

Cal: Oh go on, rub it in why don't you, Ms I-get-to-go-to-theatre-every-day :) well it might be easy, but I've been dragged to watch so many inane movies (Borat, then TMNT, then Nacho Libre) that I'm afraid I no longer have enough brain cells to finish my course...

Eugene: Actually, I had just woken up. But don't tell anyone. Bad for my macho image.

HP: Arr matey, ye're right there, I prefer the dorsal columns too. So much more straightforward aren't they? None of this crossing over nonsense. They stay on their sides until the last moment, THEN they cross over. (Kinda like Judas, but hey.)

Dr. Deb said...

I guess this letter of resignation is another step forward.

Chrysalis said...

Just checking in on you Medic. Make sure you do get some rest during this time. I do check in on you, even if I'm not exactly on this site. ;)

Kenny Mah said...

So much drama... Guess Patrick Teoh is right after all, this is like Grey's Anatomy. ;)

The Angry Medic said...

Dr Serani: Yep, I suppose it is. More resignations are needed, but they're not going to be half as easy to make fun of as this dude was :)

(That doesn't imply I have no respect for Prof Crockard though. He did the right thing, and these days that's getting rarer and rarer.)

Chrysalis Angel: Aww thanks CA. I know I've always got an Angel watching over me :) I'm still alive, not to worry. In fact I'm sleeping more and more these days :(

Kenny Mah: Hahahaha I know man. It's not my fault, the NHS is just one big soap opera, you know? I don't even have to TRY :)

huajern said...

Don't worry, I haven't had to use knowledge of the spinothalamic tract since I graduated 8 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Did you see Dr. Crippen's post about Patricia Hewitt resigning as well?!

The Angry Medic said...

Dr Hua Jern: I was just wondering where you'd gotten to! Still no blog yet for me to keep in touch? And thanks for the info about the spinothalamic tract...makes me sweat slightly less. Short-term memorising, here I come!

Anonymous: Haha yes, it was a nasty April Fool's joke on his part, wasn't it? I was fooled for about 5 seconds. 5 SECONDS OF BLISS, dangit!

hastalvistababy said...

You sound like you procrastinate as much as I do :)