Now just when was it that the GMC, BMA and DH decided that doctors were exempt from following local and national hospital policy? Today I met "the Professor" - a medic so advanced in his understanding of the GI tract that policies and procedures are to be laughed at. He came onto the Unit to perform one Gastroscopy on a patient whom he happened to know well; a Labour member and former squash partner.
Bearing in mind that this procedure can be a little messy (mucas and saliva are brought up, along with anything else harboured in the stomach), the Professor decided that donning a plastic apron and gloves was not necessary. Apparently he never wears them. So much for Infection Control measures.
But that's not the worst thing that happened in the procedure. Even the snide, medical questions he threw at me, the "trainee", were not the worst thing. Whilst poking the scope around the patient's duodenum, the Professor's mobile telephone started to ring. I expected a slight look of embarrassment but no, he answered it! Scope in one hand, mobile telephone in the other. And it wasn't even a work-related call!
Had I been the patient, the Professor would have recieved a stearn word once the procedure was over. The CNO-wannabe in me came out when discussing the situation with my mentor once he'd left. "He's like that all the time", she said.
Isn't it good to know that so many NHS employees shine with professionalism?
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