The NHS is going through what some say is a most diffficult time
That may be putting it mildly!
We may have to learn a lesson or two from the Dakota Indians…
As many variations of these pearls of wisdom are available, I cannot credit this particular version to anyone. But I am eternally grateful for the laughs it produced!
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed down from generation to generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.
In the NHS, however, a whole range of far more advanced strategies is often employed, such as:
- Change riders
- Buy a stronger whip
- Do nothing: “This is the way we have always ridden dead horses”
- Visit other countries to see how they ride dead horses
- Perform a productivity study to see if lighter riders improve the dead horse’s performance
- Hire a contractor to ride the dead horse
- Harness several dead horses together in an attempt to increase the speed
- Provide additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance
- Appoint a committee to study the horse and assess how dead it actually is
- Re-classify the dead horse as “living-impaired”
- Develop a Strategic Plan for the management of dead horses
- Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all horses
- Modify existing standards to include dead horses
- Declare that, as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line than many other horses
- Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position