This is one of the two posts that I don't believe were posted on the list. Since Keith responded to the CC that I sent to him I am sending this to the list to catch up.
Ray Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 10:43 AM Subject: Re: Top-down collapse To the list, This is a terrible tale. Why do you think this is? And what do you think is the answer? Are there too few doctors? Is the society so cheap that they won't care for their own sick? What is England's tax situation compared to Sweden or Denmark where the culture seems more amenable to taking care of themselves? Meanwhile for a modern tale about America's failure in their neo-orthodox solution to libertarian economics read Krugman at: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/18/opinion/18KRUG.html So the dualistic solution to all of this is be private or be public but it seems both are "screwy" and self interested like Enron executives and their community. In the operatic world, such dysfunction is often placed at the door of speaking English rather than one of those other more logical and singable languages. Maybe the problem is that we all speak English. So what is Keith suggesting for the future of medical work in England or is it a genetic problem with the English not being able to figure it out? I would add that there seems to be a different kind of Englishman from my first voice teacher Dame Eva Turner who would have listened to such complaints for about 20 seconds and then chided someone in her ever so elegant manner. As delightful and ladylike as she was, she had the most cutting wit and tongue as I have ever known. You wouldn't even know that you had been ridiculed until you thought about it for a couple of days. As the beautiful and gorgeous voiced Dame Kiri Te Kanawa described her "plight", on Robert Merrill's Tosca Diva Video entitled "I live for Art", to the white haired smiling old lady sitting across from her. Dame Kiri was complaining about her professional situation with windowless practice rooms, and being away from her children all the time for her professional career, to the smiling 92 year old Diva who had given up marriage and children for her career. (I can just see Ingred Berman in the movie "Autumn Sonata" saying the same thing.) If you watched you would see a slight tightening around the eyes in spite of the huge grin on Dame Eva's face. As the New Zealand Dame Kiri complained, it became obvious that anyone who knew the esteemed Elder would read the message behind her rather condescending "Yes Dear, that is too bad!" (Damn this medium, it just can't catch the wonderful nuance and so all I can do is explain, explain, explain! Perhaps the New Zealanders on this list will complain that Dame Kiri is from Australia. That it was Australia who "educated out" her Maori toughness and should now get the blame rather than the home of her ancestors.) Anyway, let it be said that the esteemed Elder (who had one of the mightiest sopranos on record and who made her reputation singing the Ice Princess Turandot in the greatest opera houses in the world under Arturo Toscanini and who then mentored the likes of Dame Gwyneth Jones and others doing the same - that same lady who saw her life go up in the smoke of the blitz and who lost the best five years of her artistry to the insanity of war caused by the failure of the economics profession's theories), yes that grand Dame would have sold her soul again to be able to do what Dame Kiri complained about. So the question I put forth is this. Have the English grown too middle class and lost that toughness that I learned coming from the Quapaw Reservation driving 250 miles across the prairie for voice lessons from this magnificent old lady who changed my life? (Dame Eva was the first of many magnificent and brutal gatekeepers that I would study with over the years in this profession.) It seems very simple. If you lack Doctors then pay them enough for more people to become Doctors. If you lack hospitals then build them. Or we can say simply "Yes dear that is a very sad story" and go on with life like those tough Italians you meet in the opera world. Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director The Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 3:03 AM Subject: Top-down collapse > The collapse of our highly centralised National Health Service continues > apace -- as hinted at by Tony Blair some days ago. > > 1. Patients are now being exported to Europe. NHS patients who have been > awaiting operations for years in this country have now been allowed to go > to Europe for their operations -- paid for by the NHS. The first batch of > travelled to Lisle, France, yesterday on Eurostar railway. They will be > treated in a French private hospital. > > 2. Alan Milburn, Minister for Health, has announced that hospitals will be > allowed to manage themselves from now onwards (once they have gained enough > "points" -- as decided by civil servants in London who still can't easily > let go of control!). Those that want to be managed professionally by > private firms for efficiency's sake will be able to do so. Anyway, this is > beginning of the restoration of independence and innovation to the several > thousand hospitals, private and local authority, that used to exist 54 > years ago before the costly experiment was started. > > 3. Not only are patients having to wait on trolleys in hospital corridors > (and in ambulances outside) for hours and sometimes a whole day or two > before being treated, but many National Health Service hospital doctors who > are on emergency call are also having to live in sub-standard > accommodation. The British Medical Journal complain today about the > hospital bedrooms allocated to emergency doctors (who work 70+ hours a week > and need sleep whenever they can get it). Some rooms have cockroaches, > others have no running water or toilets, others can't be locked. (One > doctor, after returning from treating a patient, found that his room was > occupied by another patient!) Many young doctors on call at NHS hospitals > are now having to sleep in their own cars because their bedrooms are so > disgusting.
