This TV programme has been fascinating viewing this week. Challenging though he found the assignment, I have to say that he picked an easy target. This was a Foundation Trust, in good financial state. My wife works for an NHS Trust that has a significant budget deficit and if he really wanted a challenge then he should of picked on of these. If he thought staff morale was low at Rotherham then that's nothing compared to the state of affairs brought on by the constant threat of redundancies and nit-picking, short-sighted cost reductions that save hundreds here whilst costing thousands elsewhere.

In any large organisation there are always problems in getting anything done. Different departments have different vested interests and these are rarely aligned with the overall goals of the organisation. However, in any normal hierarchical organisation you can always resolve conflicts by escalating up the management chain to a sufficiently high level. In practice you rarely have to do this, because no-one wants to be on the losing side of such an exercise and so compromises eventually get reached. However in the NHS where the reporting relationship of the clinicians to the trust management seems to be nominal then this sanction doesn't apply.

Notwithstanding the billions that are poured into it, the NHS overall does a good job. Nevertheless I think the wise thing is to keep out of their clutches as best you can. Eat well, exercise well, stay healthy.