‘People who are trying their best do not respond to criticism. They respond to help’.

David Crisp circa 2007

Dr Piotr Szawarski¹ in the first paper identifies important features of our health service that may lead to burnout and asks important questions, whereas Ahmed and Scott² outline similar concerns along with structured suggestions as to how these might be addressed.

Healthcare is an industry like no other. To treat humans as if they were a part of an industrial system is not humane. We have to cope with long working hours, dynamic situations, clinical uncertainties, equivocal or unhelpful results, colleagues who may or may not be supportive, and increasing patient expectations. In addition, artificial Intelligence is on the March and will deliver high (?higher) standards of algorithmic driven measures of performance.

Healthcare systems are increasingly expected to deliver efficacy and reliability. We all contribute to the system, but we are not an inanimate part of the system. We have animated problems, one of which is that accumulation of knowledge is usually exponential, not linear, but we are expected to benefit from accumulations of fragmented parts of the medical whole, often delivered by specialists rather than by generalists. Healthcare in the UK at least involves high levels of specialisation both in individuals and …