Medicine under capitalism

For about ten years, I have carried out annual appraisals on doctors working in general practice. I do this on a freelance basis, not as part of my salaried work. When I started, I used to claim my fees from a man called Steve, in an office at the local primary care trust. Now Steve is no longer there. Nor is his job, nor his office, nor the trust. Nowadays, I send my invoices to an agency a couple of hundred miles away called ‘Shared Business Services Payables.’ When I write the invoices, I have to use a ‘supplier number’, identifying myself as a private business supplying services to the National Health Service (NHS). I also have to include my ‘purchase order number’, confirming that the NHS has agreed to purchase those services. My personal contribution as an appraiser has effectively been absorbed into the same system...
Source: Postgraduate Medical Journal - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: On reflection Source Type: research