With friends like the British Medical Association, who needs enemies? On the day the Care Quality Commission revealed that three out of twelve hospitals it reported on were hanging elderly patients out to die, the BMA chose to blow its anti-Health and Social Care bill trumpet. But the Association’s call was inevitably drowned in the howls of anguish that arose in the face of hospitals turning biddies into Ryvitas on an industrial scale. Even Humph rose to the occasion, and adopted his best dishcloth wringing tone. No need to get bogged down in the statistics, said he, as he wrung the dishcloth of despair to its dying drop. As beads of disbelief coalesced on the brow of concern, he told the nation what it so desperately needed to hear: it was, he said in a whisper, about humanity. The BMA story, naturally, sunk like a stone in a pond.
Not content with shooting itself in one foot, the BMA managed to blow its trumpet on a day when not only one but two bigger and better health stories were breaking. Soon after the CQC had set the media on fire, Cleggover was doing his best to put the air back in his biscuit, by getting a legover on Lansoprazole. No longer would the Bill be bounced through Parliament like one of Barnes Wallis’s bombs, he declared: instead, it will be sent back to MPs for further scrutiny – and inevitable delay. Furious Tories launched some mustard gas of their own, and renamed their coalition partners the yellow bastards. The BMA story, again, sunk like a stone in a pond.
The BMA had now run out of feet to shoot at, but had it had a third, it too would have been in the firing line. The CQC’s dossier of despair opened a barn door through which Mr Ali Pasta had already gone Full Circle. The BBC joined in, and ran a News at Ten advertorial on one of his clinics, declaring it to be more like a hotel than a hospital. Instinctively, one knew that the Ryvitas in Mr Pasta’s clinics were on their proper plates, and the beds full of contented geese laying golden eggs. It has all been too much for Mr Pasta, whose head itself has started to glow like a golden egg. For the rest of us, the message was clear: if we wanted to survive the rigours of hospital, Full Circle was the way to go. The BMA story, yet again, sunk like a stone in a pond.
And so it was that on a day when the BMA’s, anti-Health and Social Care Bill call should have topped the health news agenda, a cumulative Association own goal relegated it to the bottom of the table. The CQC made the case that radical NHS reform was not only inevitable but essential; Cleggover stole the show and got in a useful pop at the Tories to boot, who responded in kind, and the BBC showed us Mr Pasta’s Ryvita alternative. The BMA’s stone remained permanently sunk at the bottom of the media pond, a position from which it was ill-placed to resist the inevitable dismissals that it was just another union looking after its members interests.
As Dr No said: with friends like the BMA, who needs enemies?
The emperor has no clothes – just a dressing gown.
http://thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/05/27/should-we-be-wary-of-private-companies-involvement-in-healthcare/#
Well spotted Dr G. But interestingly (and no lack of vigilance on Dr G’s part is being suggested here), that link is also in Dr No’s post (as ‘contented geese’ who of course wear their own fluffy white dressing gowns). Dr No does sometimes wonder whether his obsession with clean text (the links are so subtle they hardly stand out at all, although they do become obvious when hovered over – but for that to happen they, err, need to be hovered over) over lurid underlined links does compromise usability accessibility or whatever the correct design term is in the pursuit of readability. The above post has eight or so links in it but, visually, they don’t overwhelm it; some might say they are lost in it. The problem is even worse in comments, because of the coloured background.
Dr No did experiment with subtle discreet underlining (which meant using a background image, not the cruder underline attribute/style), but even that was too much for his eye. But then, if the WD is to be believed, as she usually is, then it probably doesn’t matter much: most people don’t click on links anyway!
I think the government knew the BMA press release was coming and organised a spoiler. I’m no fan of the BMA, Dr No, but I think there’s probably very little that they could have done about this. Someone tipped off the government and it’s pretty difficult to keep that secret when you send it out to journalists in advance.
Julie – you conspiracy theorist you! You have been hob-nobbing with a certain black cat!
Had Dr No been running the BMA show, he would have ordered a crash stop on the day once the CQC stuff took over the health news – even before Cleggover story started going. Yes, he is sure they sent out embargoed stuff in advance, but that was setting themselves up in a risky position. Better to flag up a press conference with an ‘important announcement’ than send out your powder in advance and let it get damp.
We all know there are good days for bad news; and so it must follow that there are bad days for good news (as in the BMA saying the Bill should be scrapped). The trouble is, the BMA are a bunch of shrinking violets/raspberries who have an appalling record of getting the right message out, and somehow seem to always end up being a magnet for accusations of union bias. Sometimes Dr No wonders if they even know how to pull a 13 amp plug out from a socket in the wall…all part of Dr No’s observations here and elsewhere that precious few seem to have the slightest clue about tactics.
Not a conspiracy theorist, Dr No – just experienced!Having said that, 38 Degrees seem to have the measure of what’s required to combat this – maybe the BMA could take a leaf out of their book in terms of organisation and approach. I think the BMA are maybe relying too heavily on their own reputation and traditional forms of media to get their message across, whereas they actually need to pay money to get column space in papers now and need to use the internet to act more speedily on things. Added to that is the problem that I think there is a split in the ranks of the BMA over the Health Bill and if the trumpet sounds uncertain, the cuddies won’t charge..