De-stress the NHS

The report in yesterday’s edition about the “target-driven blame culture” that pervades the NHS raises some interesting thoughts.

It seems that whenever this subject surfaces, there is a collective wringing of hands. Whilst there is always an acknowledgement that the present system is seriously dysfunctional, no alternative systems are ever propounded and there remains a bland acceptance that there needs to be some quasi-scientific method of setting targets and evaluating performance – both on an individual and corporate basis. Indeed, your own editorial starts by reasserting this assumption.

It is well-known that the incessant monitoring and micro-management of people and organisations ultimately has a debilitating effect on their wellbeing. Assessing performance against targets, attempting to measure unmeasurable achievements and holding those who fail to account all serve in the long term to demoralise and demotivate staff who have to work day-in and day-out under such a regime.

The attritional consequences of being constantly scrutinised, the non-productive time spent on recording performance outcomes, and the fear of being blamed if something goes wrong seem to have reduced parts of the NHS to gibbering wrecks.

I seriously wonder what would happen if the government introduced a bold social and management experiment by abandoning the present target-driven system in its entirety – and just let the highlytrained professional staff get on with what they do best.

I’m sure morale, motivation, performance and productivity would soar – and that the NHS would become significantly de-stressed rather than increasingly distressed as is happening at the moment.

ANDREW DAVEY St Andrews Road, Peebles

This winter has seen the worst-ever performance from our accident and emergency services, and despite assurance from Health Minister Shona Robison of more money being spent, the reality is that the situation is going from bad to worse.

It seems the SNP administration have major problems in coping with their current responsibilities and serious questions must be asked as to their competency as a government in tackling Scotland’s essential services as they have also performed very badly with education and the economy.

DENNIS FORBES GRATTAN Mugiemoss Road, Bucksburn