“Health care in the UK faces a future of increasing constraints. Serious challenges exist that threaten the sustainability of services. To preserve the standards of care provided across the NHS, waste must be reduced.” These are the open words of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges reportProtecting Resources, Promoting Value which has been released today. In his foreword to the document Professor Terence Stephenson states that “avoiding waste and promoting value are about the quality of care provided to patients – which is a doctor’s central concern.” and he points out that “Maintaining NHS services may depend on doctors engaging with this issue to an extent that has not previously been the case.”
The BBC news website runs with the headline: “UK doctors have “ethical duty” to prevent waste”
Is it about time?
The document highlights the fact that “most people think of waste in a product sense….However, most waste in the NHS lies within clinical practice and models of care.”
There are 86,400 seconds in each day. Time is a finite resource, just like any other.
With ever increasing workloads, pressures and deadlines, the ability for doctors to effectively manage time is imperative. During our Time Management and Personal Effectiveness Course for Doctors we regularly discuss how the demand for this skill increases as progress is made up the career ladder. Otherwise the doctor finds their finite time being wasted on ineffective meetings, trapped by conflicting demands and overloaded, jumping from crisis to crisis. To quote David Loxterkamp from his column in the BMJ this May, when time is scarce “Our mind slows and narrows. We ultimately forfeit what our patients need most: patience, compassion, deep understanding, wider scope and the gift of human relationship.”
Resolving issues with time management requires deliberate action and the investment of time itself. It is likely to have taken you less than two minutes to read this blog. What steps will you take to ensure that your valuable time is wisely spent?
David Loxterkamp reference: BMJ 2014; 348:g2634
