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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DiabeticGeek" data-source="post: 16656" data-attributes="member: 7961">I meant no criticism of the people in the NHS.  The NHS is, in principle, a wonderful institution built upon lofty ideals.  The vast majority of people who work in it do so because they are dedicated to helping others and generally making the world a better place.  Nonetheless, it is - in far too many parts - a bit of a shambles.  This is mostly due to decades of chronic underfunding, mismanagement and politics.  I have seen with my own eyes a surgical ward in a major NHS hospital (often reviewed as one of the best in the land), where they are so desperately short of staff that postoperative patients are put into dirty beds and excrement in the showers is left for hours - despite the staff being told about it.Again, I didn't mean to criticize individuals - I agree, the vast majority of them are great.  The problem that I have is with the teaching of medicine, the regulation of the profession and most importantly the vested interests of the pharmaceutical companies.  Medicine is taught as a kind of biological mechanics.  Medical students are given a truly enormous amount to learn, and they are taught a standard set of procedures for given circumstances - first you try treatment A, if that doesn't work you try treatment B etc.  They are not taught to think!  They are not taught objectivity or logic - and that is what I meant when I said that medics aren't scientists.  Now, to some extent that is fine - because after all if you are ill what you need is a biological mechanic who will fix you.  However, it does tend lead to very inflexible thinking - and that is all too common in medicine.  It is true that some medics do become scientists, but they are usually the ones who go into research or specialist consulting.  I have in the past been involved in the teaching of medical students, and I have railed against that sort of thing.  That is when I have hit the arrogance of the medical establishment - I am not a medic, I am merely a scientist and educationalist so what do I know!  Although the vast majority of  individual GPs hearts are in the right place, that can not be said of the drug companies.  The only thing that they are interested in is maximising their rather obscene profits.  They have a stranglehold upon much of the medical profession - at all levels.  They are heavily involved in the teaching of medicine; in the professional bodies; in government; in hospitals (they directly fund "care managers" in some PCTs); and this goes right down to your local GPs surgeries.  Most GPs spend a significant amount of time talking to pharma reps with glossy brochures and a wide range of freebies.  A GP is far more likely to know about a new drug from the (biased) information provided by its manufacturers than from the (objective) scientific literature.Sorry about this - we really are getting off topic here.  That is what happens when throwaway comments hit a raw nerve!  If we are going to carry on about this we should probably start a new thread.</blockquote>

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