Sunday 25 November 2007

Mercury Health's second failed venture

I don't normally get many comments on my blog and I don't think I have a very wide readership so I was surprised to get so many comments on my previous piece on Mercury Health having their contract withdrawn. There were two or three genuine ones from people who regularly read and comment on medical blogs but most were from employees of Mercury itself and even a couple from people claiming to be satisfied customers of the service. My first thought was that my story had been picked up by CNN or the BBC but I have found no evidence of this. The conclusion I have reached is that Mercury has ventured into news management and set up a Blog Rebuttal Unit. I presume their employees were told to get on their computers and try to rubbish my story.

To a man (or woman) they chose to make it a personal attack on me while seeking public sympathy for their individual plight, now that the grunts at the front line have lost their jobs.

It hasn't gone terrifically well for them. Unfortunately most of their employees don't seem to be able to write English and even the ones who can missed the point that my piece was about the reversal of government policy and not a personal attack on Mercury employees or the quality of their scans. Rather than delete the worst of the comments I left them on because they portray better than anything I can write the nature of the people who will be providing health care if the Nulabour reforms succeed.

I will even go as far as giving additional prominence to some of the comments:

Rubenac Beaaaverr said... I am a radiographer who came to UK to join the Mercury team . My line manager is Claire and throughout the whole induction period and competency testing she has shown me values that I have never experienced before. I have loved working as part of this team, I am proud that I have been involved. I go home with regret, a distrust of Uk politics and a firm belief that Uk radiologists are complete wankers....

and
Anonymous said...

Dr Ray's face in this focal spot is a true representaion of yourself ! From your method of argument which does not really centre on objectivity but selfishness and greed,it really looks like you have got no grey mater in that empty skull.No wonder you had to hide your ugly eyes inside that dark spectacle !! Ha Ha Ha ! You know wat,I am a radiographer with mercuryhealth,I have worked in several places in the UK and I can authoritatively tell you that mercury is the place to be...Stop being jeaolous ray,with or without the DOH contract,we will still be out there saving patients from people of your ilk !
Am sure you must have included mercuryhealth in the body of ur x-ray reports lately,poor patients ha ha ha....


Does anyone else have trouble understanding this? It's no wonder they were told to stop posting later in the day when the quality of these front-line staff was becoming clear for all to see.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't think you'd get overwhelmed by this reaction to your previous post Dr Ray or is this modesty? after all, this blooger

http://nhsexposedblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/pirate-brit-meds-week-8.html

named you as 'the sexiest web doctor on the net' .... Enjoy ;-)

Anonymous said...

Anon 2

Hear, hear, magic man :-)

Garth Marenghi said...

well said Dr Ray,

there are certainly some rather silly comments in response to your first piece,

competition and the destabalisation of DGHs is not in the interests of the public, that is precisely why companies like Mercury health are bad news,

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/335/7630/1126

Anonymous said...

http://tinyurl.com/3xsvv2
http://www.publications.parliament
.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm08
0327/text/80327w0021.htm#0803
2779000062

West Midlands NHS Diagnostic Service
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many patients were seen by the West Midlands NHS Diagnostic Service during the period of its contract with Care UK; [196088]

(2) how much (a) has been and (b) will be paid to Care UK by his Department in relation to terminating its contract with Care UK for the the West Midlands NHS Diagnostic Service; [196089]

(3) how much has been spent under the West Midlands NHS Diagnostic Service contract with Care UK since June 2007; [196091]

(4) for what reasons the West Midlands NHS Diagnostic Service contract with Care UK was terminated in November 2007. [196118]

Mr. Bradshaw: Up to 31 January 2008, 8,100 diagnostic procedures were delivered to national health service patients by the West Midlands NHS Diagnostics Service.

Costs incurred as a result of the termination of the scheme are yet to be determined but any payment made by the Department will be governed by the contract with Care UK. The Department is currently in the process of verifying the claim made by Care UK.

From June 2007 until 31 January 2008, £13.3 million has been paid to the provider.

Dr Xavier Ray said...

Thank you anonymous.
Almost all those 8,100 diagnostic procedures will have been audiometry and other low cost services. The number of CT and MRI scans is only a few dozen and grouping them together is an attempt to hid the dreadful waste and expense.