Madam, - My consultant colleagues and I are tired of being endlessly criticised by the public and media to the effect that we are culpable for all the ills of the health service.
I typically work 50 hours or more per week, of which more than 95 per cent is devoted exclusively to public patients. At St James's Hospital, my work performance is not atypical. We have in the past two years brought on stream a medical admissions unit in an attempt to reduce "trolley waits".
Delayed admissions have fallen by 80 per cent with an annual saving of 5,000 bed days. This has greatly improved the care and comfort of patients presenting with acute serious medical illnesses.
Do your commentators have any regard for the huge effort of over 120 staff including consultants, non-consultant hospital doctors, nursing and supporting professionals to achieve such results?
Doctors are altruistic in general. Surveys have shown that 89 per cent of patients trust their doctors; this is the highest rating of any profession.
This may be because most people's perception is related to the way they are treated by their own doctor or experiences of relatives and friends, rather than media coverage.
Repeated criticism undermines goodwill and morale. Young doctors in training form judgements about their career aspirations; high-stress and acute specialities become unpopular career choices. One third of GP posts in the UK are vacant; doctors in training in Ireland also appear to be choosing options other than the major hospital specialities.
"As you sow, so shall you reap," perhaps. - Yours, etc.,
Dr BERNARD SILKE, Consultant Cardiovascular Physician, St James's Hospital, Dublin, 8.