Medical matters, unsurprisingly, continue to feature heavily in the headlines and the media in general. There seems to be an endless appetite among the public for such stories, whether they are announcing the arrival of new and better treatments or procedures, or reporting shortfalls, errors or even scandals. Politicians frequently feel obliged to step in, but their attempts to remedy things don’t always have the desired response.
Inevitably this is felt by you on the wards or in your consulting rooms, with increasing patient expectations in the form of unrealistic demands or a raft of self-researched information from the internet. This can make for some challenging situations, at a time when workloads grow in intensity, perhaps due to budgetary cutbacks or other local factors.