Explosion of managers

in my years as a medical student, before qualifying in 1956, my year of 120 students was made up of 100 males and 20 females. none of the females became consultants, though half of the males did so.

This situation has changed greatly over the past 60 years in that female students now outnumber males, though more of them eventually work part-time or take temporary or permanent leave because of family commitments. males are still more likely to train as consultants, though female consultants are now more frequent.

dr martin Scurr (mail) says his group of junior hospital doctors in the Seventies considered going on strike but didn’t do so, not out of loyalty to the government or the nhS but to the ‘firm’ — a group headed by two consultants and their supporting housemen and registrars.

That grouping has now been destroyed by politicians, and replaced by an explosion in the number of managers who know much about political influence but little about healthcare. We now face a battle by junior doctors against an imposed new contract while gps have a workforce crisis of epic proportions. What a mess.

The first priority must be to curtail the dominant role of hospital administrators and their associates.

Consultants used to be appointed in their mid-to-late 30s and remain in post for 30 years, developing local services. most administrators are birds of passage, constantly seeking promotion. Dr BARRIE SMITH, FRCP,

Erdington, West Mids.