Dependency vs Enablement

When I started training in Neurosurgery in 1991 my mentors taught me to be frugal with resources. They had mastered clever ways of making do with what we had. In those days if we needed a ‘level check’ in spinal surgery the radiographer would develop the film in a dark room next to the operating theatre. Our first MRI in town was reserved for only our most complicated and unusual cases.

Now more than 25 years later I am astounded by the complexity and expense involved with the delivery health care. In my hospital we have a ‘hybrid’ operating theatre, 3D navigation systems, spinal operating tables, robots and an intra operative CT scanner! Unfortunately this plethora of expensive gadgets is not as beneficial to our patients as we would have expected. The technology upgrades seem to have taken on a ‘life of their own’.

The soporific hospital administrators have been hypnotised into believing that expensive equipment is compulsory to deliver ‘quality care'. The clever corporation markets this technology to give their representatives unprecedented opportunity in the OR to sell over regulated ‘off the shelf’ prosthetic devices. Techno toys now 'help the surgeon' put overpriced legacy mass produced devices 'in the right place'. Surgeons are cheered on by the attractive and well trained corporate sales and marketing force flush with lucrative 'consultancies' and 'Vegas training'.

Meanwhile surgeon creativity and ingenuity has long suffered due to over regulation. Our healthcare model leaves surgeons completely powerless to make even the simplest change in the design of instruments, devices and prosthetics due to suffocating regulatory and bureaucratic red tape. Innovative surgeons wanting to improve efficiency and outcomes are quickly disenchanted and frustrated by the ‘20th century’ regulatory obstacles kept in place to protect the corporation from competition.

In our 21st century a ‘process orientated regulatory model' will soon enable healthcare facilities to manufacture their own solutions at ‘cost price’. This will dramatically improve efficiency and minimise waste. Teams of surgeons, engineers and crafts people will be enabled to work together to solve individual problems. Savings and improved outcomes will be reinvested through employment opportunities in community manufacturing and service delivery.

"Community based personalised healthcare breaks dependency through enablement of healthcare solutions that are medically, socially, commercially and culturally relevant."