Consultants’ expertise is ignored in a service laid to waste by cuts that endanger patients. That’s why we have voted to strike
I joined the NHS in 1991 as an optimistic trainee. It was a time when GPs still did home visits and knew all their patients and families personally. District nurses were available to help people in the community, and mental health units were accessible.
We doctors were supported to do our work with onsite accommodation, free parking and staff canteens; we discussed patients and cases while sipping the occasional free coffee or tea on a night shift.
Claudia Paoloni is a consultant anaesthetist working in Bristol
