Here we go round the Mulberry bush

Here we go round the Mulberry Bush

There is an old English nursery song:

"Here we go round the Mulberry bush,
The Mulberry bush,
The Mulberry bush.
Here we go round the Mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning."

I can remember singing it in the playground as a child.

It signified, for us, moving around in circles, and then we all had to fall down. That was the version at St Francis' School in Handsworth, anyway.

I was reminded of this old rhyme when I went to a meeting last night on commissioning. We are lucky in our patch to have a number of GPs who are willing and able to run with the Government's current agenda. They were there at the meeting, and were spelling out the agenda and timetable for us as commissioning groups.

My mind was transformed to the meetings that we had in relation to previous Government inspired changes - the development of Fundholding in the 1990s, the formation of Primary Care Groups around 7 years later. This was the last time that this group of people came together.

I think it was fair to say that the agenda was underwhelming. I wish my colleagues all success, and will seek to develop the changes for the good of my patients. There is much to do and much to change. The reassuring fact is that, for the Jobbing Doctor, retirement will take place before the changes come into effect.

Then I will turn into a patient. I live in my locality, and thus what happens locally will be important to me.

So here I am, today with a cold a frosty morning outside my window, thinking of a nursery song. I am fearful that it is a metaphor for our troubled times. We go round and round in circles for a while and then we fall down.

Then the privateers will come in to pick on the bones of the old NHS.