Hand-made laminated poster

I went to the local GP’s surgery for a blood test (my cholesterol is too high).

While I was waiting I looked at the posters on the noticeboard.

I was amazed to see the above hand-made laminated poster (you might need to click on the image to read it properly). It basically tells you not to bother them about appointments for two months as they have far more important priorities (holidays, taking “sickies”, training on the new NHS computer system). The author of this poster no doubt has a busy and demanding job, but not so busy and demanding that she/he hasn’t had time to decorate the margins with crude clip art.

And I admire the nerve they have in thanking us for our support and understanding.

The NHS is the country’s biggest public sector employer. Tescos is the country’s biggest private sector employer. Tescos has many many faults, but it is inconceivable that they would communicate with their customers via a poster like this.



Above: and in today’s Guardian is an item about how GPs have awarded themselves massive pay increases (as well as ending out-of-hours cover).

I am strongly in favour of the NHS in theory. But in practice it doesn’t seem to work very well. Too many of the staff take liberties they would never get away with in the private sector.

Catherine Tate's view: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo62PRVxS_M&NR=1