come_the_day
Lantern Swinger

I hope that we can move the medical discussion from the "RAF Defector" thread, because it rather seems to have taken it over.
"Elvis" Reed has not left the building, yet, but it is imminent. There is no comparable talent at 1* in the RNMS and, let's not forget, LEAN will reduce the promotion potential level of the medics in the very near future.
All Purple Now has postulated that the Army Medical Service has broken the duck of non-doctors / dentists getting to the top - well not to my knowledge, it hasn't. Whilst there have been a few 1* MSOs I have no recollection of anything beyond this. Certainly, there has never been either a MDG(N), DGAMS or DGMS(RAF) that has been anything other than a doctor.
Why does the senior level of either medical service need any particular "clout"? I have to admit that I was hoping that DG Healthcare would bring a fresh eye to healthcare provision for Servicemen and women, but there has been no evidence yet of any "blue sky" thinking, which has left us wide open to the scrutiny of the Gilligans of this world.
We currently have a perfectly serviceable medical facility, albeit on the haemorrhoidal tip of the UK (just above the "floater" that is the Isle of Wight!) which could be preserved as a Service facility for the increasing number of severely injured personnel returning from ops. It will always cost a lot to keep it, but if we give it up, another government department - Heritage - would have to pay for its upkeep, anyway. So why don't we cut our losses, move Headley Court's work to Haslar, staff it with Service medical, nursing and paramedical personnel and even develop a genuine centre of excellence?
"Elvis" Reed has not left the building, yet, but it is imminent. There is no comparable talent at 1* in the RNMS and, let's not forget, LEAN will reduce the promotion potential level of the medics in the very near future.
All Purple Now has postulated that the Army Medical Service has broken the duck of non-doctors / dentists getting to the top - well not to my knowledge, it hasn't. Whilst there have been a few 1* MSOs I have no recollection of anything beyond this. Certainly, there has never been either a MDG(N), DGAMS or DGMS(RAF) that has been anything other than a doctor.
Why does the senior level of either medical service need any particular "clout"? I have to admit that I was hoping that DG Healthcare would bring a fresh eye to healthcare provision for Servicemen and women, but there has been no evidence yet of any "blue sky" thinking, which has left us wide open to the scrutiny of the Gilligans of this world.
We currently have a perfectly serviceable medical facility, albeit on the haemorrhoidal tip of the UK (just above the "floater" that is the Isle of Wight!) which could be preserved as a Service facility for the increasing number of severely injured personnel returning from ops. It will always cost a lot to keep it, but if we give it up, another government department - Heritage - would have to pay for its upkeep, anyway. So why don't we cut our losses, move Headley Court's work to Haslar, staff it with Service medical, nursing and paramedical personnel and even develop a genuine centre of excellence?