Never one to shy away from putting his head above the parapet, John Riddington-Young has been outspoken on the state of the NHS for a number of years. His decades of clinical experience have earned him the right to speak as he finds, and what he finds he does not like.

In this latest examination of the problems he sees within the National Health Service, he uses examples drawn from both his personal experiences and front page news to illustrate his central point over and over again. The more the NHS is run by target-oriented businessmen, the poorer the service.

What is required is a return to the skills drilled into doctors and nurses in the past, the values which drove them to choose medicine as a career, and the vocation which they knew would bring them a lifetime of hard work, long hours and responsibility.

Hospitals need doctors more than they need managers and a simple solution exists which would start to stem the tide of dissatisfaction felt by patients and staff alike: get rid of all the managers and administrators.