There was a couple of programmes a little while ago where Gerry Robinson, a successful businessman, was sent in to see if he could help a new hospital in Rotherham which had financial problems and long waiting lists. He concluded that most of the problems were due to the consultants and that management were scared of them. For example the state of the art operating theatres were only in use, except for emergencies,4 days a week as the consultants refused to operate on fridays, saturdays and sundays. Gerry Robinson concluded that they should be in use all day and night until the backlog had been dealt with. He spoke to most of the staff, some of whom came up with excellent ideas, but Gerry Robinson had so much trouble getting the consultants to back them as they preferred things as they were. One actually said he'd no intention of taking orders from someone who only had 5 GCE's. I'm not a consultant knocker, both my brother and sister in law are consultants, I'm just telling it as it was.