I will once again plagiarize myself by transcribing a talk I gave.First: be warned! I offer this gesture of respect to you — yes, you! — when I say that this is at least 20 minutes of reading. This is long even for me. If you’re surfing reddit, gobbling up little information snacks, then it’s best to think of this entry as being more like a big downer cow. Unless you’re really hungry, you
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January has come and gone. It is the time of the year where traditionally consumers are looking to book their holiday so need to be inspired. As a consumer I would expect to see tourism boards promoting their destination and can only remember Jersey and California advertising last month.
Future of tourism boards
Times have changed and I am sure budgets have too but as I have mentioned before tourism boards do not promote tourist destinations enough. I would be interested to hear what role you think tourism boards play or do they no longer have a role in inspiring consumers.
Reading a Travolution post today inspired me to write this because tourist boards are very poor at interacting with consumers and there is a severe lack of content written by them. I recently contacted ten tourism boards and only Northern Ireland has bothered to communicate with me.
Fear of social media
The travel industry is finally getting to grips with social media but in comparison tourism boards are at least ten years behind. There seems to be a lot of talk, but not a great deal of action so I have to ask myself how long will they exist for.
I am interested to read your opinion.
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Tourism boards are not doing their job
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As someone who spends a fair amount of time reading travel industry news it does make me want to rant sometimes. I have a problem with how travel companies use press releases and find that the majority of the time its not news that they’re reporting, it is simply used to brain wash consumers.
False or true travel surveys
I really have a problem believing that the majority of travel surveys actually take place and because the media loves facts and figures travel companies pick something out of the sky and use it to promote their niche or business.
One company who specialises in sustainable travel highlights all of a sudden that 55% of consumers are thinking about the environmental aspects of their holiday. Then another highlights that 50% of holidaymakers are going to purchase their holiday through a travel agency this year.
Desperate media buzz
Then there’s the headlines that are created to generate a buzz in the media. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think travel companies are getting very desperate. What Activities Abroad did generalising consumers is well out of order and Travel Republic’s response wasn’t much better.
It smelt of desperation and thankfully was just fish and chip shop wrapping a few days after.
ATOL unbalanced view
Highlighting that ATOL bonded holidays are the most financially safe is true, but I felt a lot of the press were not really giving a balanced view. I know, these tour operators and companies are trying to sell holidays, but, saying that you’ll not get your money back is not strictly true if you book with a credit card.
I am interested to hear what you think about the pointed raised in this post.
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This weekend I realised that I have never asked you all what improvements you think I need to make to the blog. Travel Rants grows in popularity month-by-month but I want to get a picture of what you really think about the blog.
I would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete my reader survey.
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This is probably a post that I should have written during Obama mania but, I’ve seen a few Americans write that they are treated better when travelling in Europe and abroad because of the change of president, and to me that just sounds ridiculous.
Traveller’s reputation
Whilst I cannot speak for everyone, I would not treat an American tourist any differently just because they have a new president. I have found some Americans to be loud and obnoxious, but you cannot put that tag on every traveller, plus that’s not going to change because Obama is in charge.
British travellers have a reputation abroad and I have come across people who have treated me different because I am British, but then, when they get to realise I am not a beer guzzling hooligan, their attitude changes.
Treating Americans differently
Most nationalities will have different reputations and it’ll impact in some form when travelling, but I was wondering what you thought – will you treat Americans differently because of their new president, or like me, do you make your decision on a traveller based on how they act.
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American traveller’s feel the love abroad
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When you book a holiday in the same resort, same dates, same tour operator you would expect to pay the same amount, no matter if your party was made up of 2 adults and 2 children or 4 adults. In fact I would expect the holiday to be cheaper for families, well with some tour operators it isn’t.
Pay more for family travel
Tonight I carried out some research and I wanted to share the results, to hopefully open up a discussion. Searching with Thomson, for 7 nights, in July 2009, self catering holiday at the Palmeras Playa Apartments, Sa Coma, Majorca
Total price for 4 adults is £1,692.00 but for 2 adults and 2 children the price shoots up to £1,811.00.
Tour operator comparison
To compare this with other tour operators I did similar 7 night, self catering package holiday search on First Choice and Thomas Cook and the results were the same, more expensive holidays for families, same location, same date, same everything, just two kids instead of two adults.
Families pay more
I wondered why is it costing a family more, and realised this is probably due to the fact that children do not count towards the occupancy of a self catering room so extra charges are added to the adult cost. Under occupancy charges plus reduced child cost is usually greater than the adult price.
Am I the only person who thinks that this is unfair?
Possible loophole
Tour operators must be aware of this price difference and I am wondering if consumers are able to get around this problem by booking 4 adults, even though two of the passengers are children, I suspect not, or if you can, they are keeping that quiet.
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Families pay more for self catering package holidays
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a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWTLpQ2CUiI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/Ds2RalBWwXY/s1600-h/johnny+cash+bird.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 266px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWTLpQ2CUiI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/Ds2RalBWwXY/s400/johnny+cash+bird.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288575772196491810″ border=”0″ //abr /Doctors leaders have today reacted, with thinly disguised derision, to moves to allow Patients more choice over GP surgeries. Currently, the majority of patients already have the ability to choose between local GP surgeries, but Whitehall bureaucrats and their hare-brained elected overlords have recently announced plans to increase ‘competition’ between GP in the hope of slaking the healthcare-consuming thirst of the vocal minority.br /!– E SF –p/pp !– S IBOX — /p!– E SF –p/pp !– S IBOX — /ptable align=”right” border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ width=”231″ tbodytr td width=”5″img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif” alt=”" border=”0″ vspace=”0″ width=”5″ height=”1″ hspace=”0″ //td td class=”sibtbg” div div class=”mva” img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif” alt=”" border=”0″ width=”24″ height=”13″ /b style=”font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 204);”Quite frankly, I’d be delighted if some of my patients told me to Fuck off and went elsewhere. However, I’d feel very sorry for any GP who was ‘chosen’ by them that didn’t have the option of telling THEM to fuck off!/bimg src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif” alt=”" align=”right” border=”0″ vspace=”0″ width=”23″ height=”13″ / /div /div div class=”mva” divDr Francis Rantbr /The Dr Rant Foundationbr //div /div /td /tr /tbody/table !– E IBOX –br /Dr Francis Rant, a well-loved and universally respected local GP, has voiced concerns over what he describes as flagrant pandering to the worried well and professional complainers. He told us “In places where the greatest need exists, this policy will do nothing to improve standards because there is no ‘choice’ there at present, and none will be forthcoming. It does however sound like a charter for the span style=”font-style: italic;”intractably disappointed/span to cause mayhem in leafy suburbs, further pushing those with real need, who aren’t their own best advocate, towards the margins.”br /br /br /”This policy will create a two tier system, effectively mirroring the Grammar/Comprehensive divide. Grammar schools do nothing to increase standards in other schools and concentrate those who disrupt the service in places where the greatest need is.” he added. When asked about the concept of competition in General Practice, Dr Rant declared “Bring it on! But with the caveat that it cuts both ways. If I was rude to my private dentist and verbally abused his staff whilst making threats and unrealistic demands upon his time, he’d tell me to go Fuck myself! Furthermore, the dentist down the road wouldn’t be forced to take me on a patient either.”br /br /Another Senior GP, Dr Carey Cardigan has raised the issue of costs. “As a nation we seem to have unrealistic expectations as to what service can actually be delivered for the money available. A GP practice receives roughly £100 per patient in funding per year. That’s about the same as it cost to insure a family pet, but not only do people demand a service that fits around btheir/b plans, they want one that’s available ball/b the time.”br /br /The concept of ‘efficiency’ in General Practice is not a new one, with each full time GP typically having direct contact with over 40 patients per day and performing administration tasks for many more. Neither Dr Rant nor Dr Cardigan believe that people will necessarily make the right choice either. Dr Rant said “People nearly always choose what they bwant/b, whether or not it’s what they actually bneed/b. Call me paternalistic, but it’s my job to decide what you need. No matter how ’sensitive’ you are in going about it, alot of people get pissed off if you tell them that they’re wrong, even if it’s blindingly fucking obvious that you’re the one who knows what they’re talking about. Some people seem incapable of entertaining the possibility that their initial, poorly considered, ill-informed, knee jerk reaction is wide of the mark, and any evidence to the contrary merely entrenches their position, makes them angry and massages their victim-complex.”br /br /br /br /!– E SF –p/pp !– S IBOX — /p!– E IBOX –
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a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://wcdiscovery.com/TopSecret.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 338px;” src=”http://wcdiscovery.com/TopSecret.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ //abr /Dr Rant has finally been given access to a leaked government memo which confirms our theory that New Labour has been running the NHS into the ground on purpose. This document finally puts paid to the naively charitable alternative explanation that they were just arsing it up by accident because they are a bunch of stupid fucktards.br /div style=”text-align: left;”br //divspan id=”PostList”b style=”color: rgb(255, 204, 204);”br /span style=”font-size:130%;”EYES ONLY – DESTROY IMMEDIATELY, NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION ON USB STICK OR CD-ROM AND CERTAINLY NOT FOR JP/span/bspan style=”font-size:130%;”br //spanbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”DIRECTIVE/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Demise of the NHS/spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Codename/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”DUMBO48/spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Timescale/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”5-10 years (may be quicker depending on compliance)/spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Responsible Minister/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”BB/spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Key Stakeholders/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Healthcare Consumers/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Medical Profession/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Tame Press/spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Rationale/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Too many workers esp. in middle management/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Pension timebomb/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Funding on all levels/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Unsustainable growth/spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”KEY STAGES/bbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”1. Devolve Power Yet Allow To Retain Responsibility/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Nurse Practitioners, Paramedics, Community Matrons, in fact span style=”font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;”Noctors/span/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[1]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;” everywhere./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“The pharmacist/extended care practitioner will see you now…”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”ISTCs, WICs./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”New GP Contract – no 24 hour responsibility yet still promote GPs’ continuing OOH responsibility, use stock phrases: “GP OOH”, “since GPs gave up their on-call”, “GP surgeries again closed to patients for four days over Easter/Christmas/delete as applicable”./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Don’t worry, we’ll pay for your IT”./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Remove the doctor from the job application – MTAS./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Remove the doctor from the clinical referral – Choose and Book./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Remove the doctor from the consultation – NHS Direct, Practitioners of every flavour (except the medical kind), rigorous following of NICE guidance./spanbr /br /span style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [1] term courtesy of some inconsequential social doctors site./spanspan style=”font-size:85%;”br //spanbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”2. Distract The Profession/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Instigate ‘market’ forces in a closed market- genius!/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Revalidation, relicensing, reaccreditation and other hoop jumping./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Note to CMO: 360’ feedback (MSF) will literally have them chasing their tails./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Always use the Shipman Shipman Shipman excuse wherever possible./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Practice Based Commissioning (otherwise known as ‘Let’s Keep Them Busy Running Around In Circles’)./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Promise gongs to those in Ivory Towers./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Push customer care above clinical care – some ideas – mystery shoppers, satisfaction surveys, experience surveys, anonymous ratings websites, access, access, ACCESS./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Targets of every sort – QOF, 18 week waits, 4 hour A+E, Health Care Standards./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Perverse and miniscule financial incentives for unproven work./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Need to keep practicing those poker skills honed during extended hours issue./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Rebadge regularly – logos, letterheads, signage./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Rename initiatives regularly: use acronyms with same names as existing medical abbreviations where possible, adds to the confusion, eg, PBC./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”All ideas however outlandish will always be considered then pushed through, eg, hospital deep cleaning (as opposed to regular ongoing cleaning), 6.00am GP appointments for working people./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Make ‘em fight for every penny – eg, NW to try illegal cap on pensions, QOF visits./spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”3. Distract The Public/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Offer ‘choice’ – NHS Choices, Choice and Booking, Patient Choice./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”‘Empower’ the consumer of healthcare – choose your hospital, car parking, food, hotel style ratings, ‘Patient-led NHS’, Michelin stars for GPs, NHS Constitution/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Promote customer relations, keep busy with surveys and questionnaires./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Offer everything – we can cure the lot, obesity, smoking, freedom from aging and death, we can screen you for everything and anything./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Use catchy slogans – Change4Life, 5 a day, Your Health – Your Choices./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Use catchy analogies – Banks and supermarkets for surgery hours, Holiday trips for GP consultations./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Use catchy celebrities – Strictly Come Dancing and condoms./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Use catchy quangos – NICE, Modernisation Agency, HealthSpace/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Raise expectations through widely publicised initiatives – profession to work out finer details (co-operation of Royal Colleges essential here)/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Forget actual care – no longer necessary – nurse and medical training to be altered to suit – speak to leaders – promise gongs as above./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Push NHS Connecting for Health – “your life will be saved if you get run over 200 miles away from home because we will have your allergies on record”./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Rebadge regularly – logos, letterheads, signage./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Change PCT job titles regularly. Remember each title must have at least five words./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Phoney war – commendation to TB for pushing this one through./spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”4. Develop Necessary Infrastructure/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Oversubscribe medical school admissions. Result: large compliant mortgage-holding salaried/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[2]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;” workforce who will do almost anything for a job./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Huge accessible to all/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[3]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;” medical database = NHS Spine – remember continuity of record, not continuity of care is the principle here./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Polyclinics a must – need to speak to AD./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“It’s NICE to ration healthcare”/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[4]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”br /span style=”font-family:arial;”‘Guidance’ to become law and enforceable through sanctions./spanbr /br /span style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [2] Details to be finalised dependent on funding.br /br //spanspan style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [3] Note to self – must align with corporates following the success with PFI (CBI – done, DHL – done, Virgin – to be announced, Coca Cola – in progress, Boots – well done PH), insurance and private enterprise to pay £££ for NHS data.br /br //spanspan style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [4] Need to continue to confine NICE’s remit to review costs of direct patient interventions rather than areas essential to this directive. Must remember to send important note to NICE Review Body: do not review PFI, NHSD, NHS24, WICs, NHS Connecting for Health under any circumstance./spanspan style=”font-style: italic;font-size:85%;” br //spanbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”Principle 1/bspan style=”font-family:arial;” – Work towards the answer regardless of cost/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[5]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;” ( – forget bankrupt PCTs, closed surgeries, bankrupt hospitals NB: but keep those in marginals!). Then ask the question. Publicise the solution widely with press releases and conferences./spanbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”Principle 2/bspan style=”font-family:arial;” – Break trust in society, professionals, institutions, schooling, family etc./spanbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”Principle 3/bspan style=”font-family:arial;” – Push process above all – must be seen to be doing something.br /br //spanspan style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [5] as long as doesn’t involve direct patient care costs – see note [4] for examples./spanspan style=”font-size:85%;”br //spanbr /b style=”font-family: arial;”5. Constructive Dismissal/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Make it very very difficult for doctors to continue to work in the NHS./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”We can afford to lose a percentage to MMC, MTAS here./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Continue Stage 2 for as long as necessary whilst carrying out Stage 4. Intermittently perform Stage 3 to keep populace happy./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Attack professionalism at every level – “you will follow this ‘guideline’ or you will face sanctions”, “you will not refer more than this level or you will face sanctions”, ask to justify all decisions, clinical or otherwise, in writing in triplicate./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Promote tick box medicine – this will help inexperienced noctor staff when they use the fully fledged NHS database./spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Primary Care = key to NHS/bspan style=”font-family:arial;” so need to denigrate GPs at every possible opportunity as cannot have primary care stop this directive. NB: consistent 92-96% trust ratings for GPs will be hard to beat but we must keep banging on about how bad they are and people will start to believe – some ideas – £250K, 9-5, OOH, confidentiality, £250K, 9-5, OOH, £250K, £250K./spanbr /br /span style=”font-family:arial;”When doctors finally jump ship and NHS fails/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[6]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”, go to next stage (very important)./spanbr /br /span style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [6] We envisage a two tier private and salaried state funded service. Details yet to be decided. Catchy name for state funded part to be finalised./spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”6. Blame Game/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Lazy greedy GPs.sup[7]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”br /span style=”font-family:arial;”Lazy greedy consultants. /span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[7]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”br /span style=”font-family:arial;”Lazy greedy GPs./span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup [7]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”br /span style=”font-family:arial;”Lazy greedy doctors./span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup [7]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”br /span style=”font-family:arial;”Lazy greedy GPs. /span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup[7]/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”span style=”font-family:arial;”sup/sup/span/spanspan id=”PostList”br /br /span style=”font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;” [7] Media (esp. BBC) and Kings Fund to release prepared articles on demand – please check with cabinet regarding timings./spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”7. Directorships/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Important reminder – all ministers are advised to have a mind to these at all times whilst in office./spanbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”THESE STATEMENTS ARE FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY AND NOT TO BE RELEASED TO THE PRESS:/bbr /br /b style=”font-family: arial;”Useful Advice, Catchy Slogans and Helpful Bargaining Phrases for Region/bbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Don’t worry, no chief exec needs to lose their job over extended hours./spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”Sticks always seem to work better than carrots with the medical profession./spanbr /br /span style=”font-family:arial;”“The ISTCs and Scratchy Show”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“PFI Friday, and Monday, and Tuesday…”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Central Control, Local Blame”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“You’re the only practice in the area that…”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Convenience over Quality”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Style (or soundbite) over Substance”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Process over Outcome”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Targets over Goals”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Micromanagement over Trust”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Commercialism over Professionalism”/spanbr /span style=”font-family:arial;”“Measure Everything but Value Nothing”sup[8]/sup/spanbr /br /span style=”font-size:85%;”span style=”font-family:arial;”span style=”font-style: italic;”[8] especially people/span.br /br /span style=”font-family:courier new;”Thanks to the OP on a href=”http://www.doctors.net.uk/”DNUK/a for permission to repost here./spanbr //span/span/span
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a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWNNBDomp1I/AAAAAAAAAfI/RnqKuqDnvXM/s1600-h/LOLTWATS2.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWNNBDomp1I/AAAAAAAAAfI/RnqKuqDnvXM/s400/LOLTWATS2.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288155068013913938″ border=”0″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWNM5VjZBuI/AAAAAAAAAfA/RoDuGKKevcg/s1600-h/LOLTWATS+3.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 400px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWNM5VjZBuI/AAAAAAAAAfA/RoDuGKKevcg/s400/LOLTWATS+3.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288154935384934114″ border=”0″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWNMw1EVMGI/AAAAAAAAAe4/4IhP6YILKQU/s1600-h/LOLTWATS+4.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 308px; height: 400px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_srKLQ9PUso4/SWNMw1EVMGI/AAAAAAAAAe4/4IhP6YILKQU/s400/LOLTWATS+4.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288154789225771106″ border=”0″ //abr /br /Thanks to the Dark Knight!
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a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.nkycvb.com/images/photo_gallery/Roulette-Wheel_HR.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 532px; height: 354px;” src=”http://www.nkycvb.com/images/photo_gallery/Roulette-Wheel_HR.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ //abr /p class=”first”bAll NHS GPs in England are to be trained to spot the early sign of recession, under government plans./b /ppAfter announcing radical plans this week to highlight yet another reason a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7794878.stm”why GPs are a bunch of crap/a, ministers also want help in spotting blindingly obvious fiscal and economic illiteracy on the part of the Government.br //ppAbout 700,000 people in the UK have lost their job this week, a total that is expected to double or triple. /ppThe Treasury says it will ensure appropriate training is provided to health professionals and create more chances for them to specialise in fiscal policy and macro-economics. !– E SF –/pp !– S IBOX — /ptable align=”right” border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ width=”231″ tbodytr td width=”5″img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif” alt=”" border=”0″ vspace=”0″ width=”5″ height=”1″ hspace=”0″ //td td class=”sibtbg” div div class=”mva” span style=”font-style: italic;”/spanimg src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif” alt=”" border=”0″ width=”24″ height=”13″ /b style=”font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 204);”It will be interesting to find out how they are going to train people to spot the early signs of recession disease because Gordon Brown hasn’t got a fucking clue, which is largely why we’re in this mess in the first place/bimg src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif” alt=”" align=”right” border=”0″ vspace=”0″ width=”23″ height=”13″ / /div /div div class=”mva” divDr Francis Rantbr /The Dr Rant Foundationbr //div /div /td /tr /tbody/table !– E IBOX — pA spokeswoman said: “We want to make sure that every GP is trained to spot the first signs of recession, and to refer patients on to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. /pp”The Treasury will work with all relevant medical and nursing organisations – including the Royal College of GPs, Skills for Care and the NHS – to make sure that appropriate training is provided for medical students.br //ppFamily GP, Dr Francis Rant, said “Apparently, Gordon Brown has put an end to a href=”http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/factcheck+no+more+boom+and+bust/2564157″Tory ‘Boom and Bust’/a. That particular bit of horse-shit manta will probably come back to bite the clunk-jawed fucktard on his spotty arse, because it looks like we’re heading for a gigantic bust of truely page 3 proportions. Totally ’span style=”font-style: italic;”tits-up/span’ would be another way of putting it.”/pp”Of course, as an untrained GP, I wasn’t able to see that allowing people with no job, no assets and no income to have £250k mortgage to buy a shoebox on a floodplain wasn’t the very basis of a sensible economic strategy. Thanks to this wonderful new training opportunity, I might be able to spot the next asset price driven economic bubble compounded by endemic reckless debt trading, even if it has been labelled as ’span style=”font-style: italic;”the new economic paradigm/span’, in plenty of time to warn the incumbent government before Sterling collapses.br //ppHe added: “One of the big problems in the early stages is that a lot of people with financial difficulties cover it up… and although some will come to the surgery, far more often it’s relatives who ring us up.br //pp”I would encourage relatives if they are worried to not vote for Gordon Brown next time, and try earning money before you spend it.” /p
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