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Post by justjohn on Jan 16, 2008 4:29:56 GMT -7
 By Rachel Wright BBC Newsnight It is very early on a cold Friday morning and Dr Piotr Robinski's alarm wakes him from a restless sleep. He turns off the clock. It is 0400 local time and he has got a very long day ahead. Having worked from Monday to Thursday in his Polish surgery, he is already tired. Six hours later, after a long drive to the airport, Dr Robinski is finally airborne. "If there will be no cheap flights I could not afford to fly to Scotland... But for me it's just like taking a bus to work now," he laughs. Dr Robinski flies to Scotland every other weekend to work for the NHS in Aberdeen. He says he is only doing the same as most of his contemporaries. "Doctors in the UK usually only work in one work... doctors in Poland work in more than one work so it is completely normal for me to take another job somewhere else. If I [didn't] go to Scotland, I would find second job here in Poland."
Shift shortages
Doctors in former Eastern Bloc countries, such as Poland, can expect to earn less than the average wage, which is around £300 a month. Dr Robinski can earn the same amount in one shift in the UK.
What's more, shifts in the evenings and at weekends need filling. In 2004, 90% of GPs' surgeries opted out of providing out-of-hours care, so health trusts had to begin employing agencies to fill the shifts.
He must be a very tired man and I cannot see how he can give his full attention to patients
Dr Anthony Halperin Patients' Association
Dr Robinski was recruited by an agency called Cherry Tree Medical, which is based in his hometown of Poznan in central Poland.
This agency provides many of the doctors who work in Grampian in the out-of-hours service covering most of northern Scotland.
We arrive in Aberdeen at 1550 GMT, just long enough to grab half a hamburger and a shower. By 1800 GMT Dr Robinski is back at work - this time on home visits.
By the end of his shift, Dr Robinski will have been on the go for around 19 hours, but he says he's not too tired to work.
"My journey takes around 12 hours, sometimes less, and when I get to Aberdeen I take only a few hours of work.. then I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning I am not tired."
We showed pictures of Dr Robinski at the end of his shift to Dr Anthony Halperin, who chairs the Patients' Association.
"He must be a very tired man and I cannot see how he can give his full attention to patients after that amount of travelling," he said.
Tiredness
So who is responsible for making sure Dr Robinski is not too tired to work?
Alistair Stevenson runs Cherry Tree Medical. He has 40 doctors on the books, including Dr Robinski.
"We instruct them to keep their hours down in Poland so they are well rested but it's their responsibility - but in practice its hard to police"
NHS Grampian, which contracts Cherry Tree Medical to provide the doctors, says it is responsible for the doctor only once he starts his shift pattern.
The British Medical Association (BMA) says the individual doctor should be fit for work, but that the buck stops with the NHS.
"The more complex the system becomes the more chance there is that something will fall through the net," says Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA.
As for Dr Robinski, he's doing what he can to provide for his family while he is young.
"I'm not sure that when I get older and older whether I shall have so much fun in travelling to another place all the time. Maybe I'll just stay here in Poland," he says.
Ironically, British GPs say they opted out of providing out-of-hours care because they were too tired.
Now it looks like many out-of-hours doctors from overseas are also risking the same symptoms as they commute from the other side of Europe.
# Rachel Wright's report is on BBC2's Newsnight at 2230 GMT on Tuesday, 15 January.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7187094.stm
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Post by valpomike on Jan 16, 2008 9:14:52 GMT -7
GOD BLESS DR. ROBINSKI, LOOKS LIKE A GREAT MAN
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Post by holaola on Jan 22, 2008 6:33:36 GMT -7
In all honesty (and speaking from a patient's point of view) I'd prefer to entrust my health, and therefore my life, to someone whose main vocation is the welfare of the sick in his/her care and not primarily his/her personal bank account.
A lot here depends on which branch of medicine Dr. Robinski works in - and hopefully he is not a surgeon - but even if he is "only" a General Practitioner he would be expected to be courteous, patient, comforting, informed of all new methods and technology, perspicacious and quick witted when dealing with the ill people who rely on his services, and I cannot see how he might be any of these things once tiredness sets in, as it surely will sooner or later.
It is high time that all doctors of medicine realize that theirs is a special job with a special oath, and that people/patients are not just lumps of meat created for the sole purpose of providing the Doctor and his family with a bigger, better, more zippy car, etc. I'm not at all impressed by someone's willingness to travel out-of-the-ordinary distances to go to work to make more money - where doctors of medicine are concerned the only thing that will impress me is correct diagnosis.
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Post by valpomike on Jan 22, 2008 10:09:48 GMT -7
holaola,
Whatever type of Doctor he is, he still is a great man, for doing what he does. We need more like him.
Michael Dabrowski
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Post by holaola on Jan 22, 2008 11:46:58 GMT -7
valpomike,
It's not about the type of doctor he is - it is about his dedication to his patients. That has very little to do with his apparent dedication to increasing his earnings.
There is no mention in the article about his having some special medical talents he wants to share with the sick wherever they are in the world. All that has been mentioned in the article is the fact that he earns much more in the UK than in Poland. And this could well mean that he is giving bad service both to his Polish patients who have not got his full attention, and to his UK patients who similarly have not got his full attention.
What we need is good doctors - not greedy ones!
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Post by bescheid on Jan 22, 2008 12:40:40 GMT -7
J.J.
What an interesting presentation of Dr. Robinski! For this is of the life of a Polish physician extending him self to the limits of his time/skill!
For of apparent to the stupid of money, but to the people he will attend to of with his learnt skill as of a physician.. for the many of sick, will benefit of his learnt skill in healing.
This is what is important. Not of matter of money. Only those of unwashed, would tend to the priority of renumeration.
Charles
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Post by leslie on Jan 22, 2008 13:40:53 GMT -7
Having heard Dr Robinski speaking on the television and hearing and reading accounts of what he does I have much admiration for him. OK he does it for the money - obviously, from what has been written recently, Polish doctors are far from being millionaires. But to put up with all the hours he has to put in, it is obviously not the money - work out from a possible fee how much an hour he is earning, and I am sure that it will be far from high. But i am a little disturbed as to how alert he will be when he sees his last patient before having to go many miles by car, just to fly 1000 miles - he must have a strong constitution.
Leslie
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Post by valpomike on Jan 22, 2008 21:06:44 GMT -7
holaola,
I guess I am not the only one who thinks this doctor is a great man, and it is not for the money. There are many fine people who will go the extra mile to help another, I know I did, and will again. I like to think there are more good people in this world than bad ones.
Michael Dabrowski
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Mary
Cosmopolitan
Posts: 934
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Post by Mary on Jan 22, 2008 21:08:30 GMT -7
holaola, I guess I am not the only one who thinks this doctor is a great man, and it is not for the money. There are many fine people who will go the extra mile to help another, I know I did, and will again. I like to think there are more good people in this world than bad ones. Michael Dabrowski I agree Mike, There are far more good people, it's just that the bad ones get the headlines. Mary |
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Post by valpomike on Jan 22, 2008 21:15:24 GMT -7
Mary,
Are you saying this good doctor is one of the bad ones? He did get the headlines.
Michael Dabrowski
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Mary
Cosmopolitan
Posts: 934
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Post by Mary on Jan 22, 2008 21:19:01 GMT -7
Mary, Are you saying this good doctor is one of the bad ones? He did get the headlines. Michael Dabrowski Oh NO, not at all! Actually, I know nothing of this doctor. I am just saying that the news is always reporting the bad news, its harder to find the good. The Front pages are always about bad news, tragic stuff. It is depressing that all the good in the world is not as noticable. |
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Post by valpomike on Jan 22, 2008 21:21:11 GMT -7
Mary,
This is what sells papers, and much, as I said before, is slanted, by the press. They won't tell us what we want, and need to hear, all the time, it is what they want.
Michael Dabrowski
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