My NHS cannot be kicked about like political football

Brian Williamson owes his life to our nurses and doctors and their skill and fortitude amazes him

Can we run the NHS like a business? It’s a point that’s often muted in entrepreneurial circles and it sounds very tempting.

This concept is not an unusual one; across the pond President Donald Trump says he will run America like his business here is no doubt a well-run company is fun to work in; staff feel valued and rewarded and when the bottom line is black and not red, and everyone can feel they’re doing a great job.

My exposure to the inside of the NHS started in 29 July 2015 when I was diagnosed with cancer. Not the best day in my life but a memorable one.

Prior to that I was pretty much low maintenance with the odd sporting injury. However, my very curious entrepreneurial brain was exposed to some of the NHS challenges that even the best of business people would find difficult to deal with never mind solve.

I have run businesses at board level for 35 years and I remember running a unionised factory in the nineties. I had to manage a lack of trust, a constraint on the use of overtime and a fluctuating demand with varying degrees of seasonality in the thirty plus countries to which we exported. It was complex and at times I would tear my hair out trying to balance all the variables. Several sessions in the Forth Valley Royal Hospital A&E made me appreciate that my ‘90s job was actually a piece of cake compared to running areas of the NHS.

Let’s imagine A&E is a factory and you are running it. Customers cost you money, they place orders on you in unknown quantities and at unknown times. You have regular customers that you wish you could see the back of, drunk, abusive and often incoherent but the staff just have to grin and bear it because despite being demanding, they are customers.

Moreover, some customers have complex needs and indeed some may die and that could lose you your reputation where everything you do is scrutinised. Then of course you have to make sure with this fluctuating demand you still adhere to delivery (waiting) times. Oh and by the way, you have a really tight budget. In addition, looking to the future, everyone is living longer and just like anything else that ages, bits start to fall off. This leads to even more regular customers, and this is a trend that is rising exponentially.

Now that’s what I call a challenge.

So my cancer was operated upon, I had post-op chemotherapy, six-monthly monitoring and all provided by the most delightful of staff; the same staff that have to deal with this challenging situation day in and day out.

I was so impressed I wrote to the complaints department to cheer them up by congratulating them on what I can only describe as a brilliant service.

My perspective in life has changed since I shook hands with death and very few things annoy me other than one: my NHS being kicked about like a political football. I would not be alive without them. ● Brian Williamson is an entrepreneur. He lives in Stirling.