I’m not really a fan of the exclamation mark, too often it is used unnecessarily. “Send me your home address please!!!” was one recent offending text message. And If I receive an email containing more than one or two, no matter how exciting the news, I am likely to be left feeling slightly deflated.
So when this year the NHS Alliance ran with the tagline Break through! and Dr Michael Dixon’s opening speech was titled No hiding place – it’s up to us now! my heart sank a little.
Within the first two minutes we had Lego animations, a room filled with music and Dixon breaking onto the stage through a paper screen. This was exciting, but it was also the staging equivalent of doing this: !!!!!!!!!!!!! What was he going to say to live up to such an introduction?
I needn’t have worried. Dr Dixon delivered a speech that showed he was not afraid of expressing his genuine opinion on the issues that mattered to his audience. He mixed high rhetoric, quoting from sources as varied as John Stuart Mill and T S Elliot, with the expected in depth knowledge and intelligent calls to action.
Dr Dixon’s speech was energised and peppered with exclamations of cautious positivity: “Ghandi warned us: ‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you. Then you win’. You and your patients will win.” I wish I could tell you this captured the mood of the conference, but I am afraid it did not.
Delegates seemed deflated, and a quick show of hands instigated by HSJ editor Alastair McLellan showed that only a third of people in the hall felt any more enthusiastic about the reforms than they had a year ago. Many were concerned about cuts and continuing bureaucracy cutting into precious budgets. And judging a number of the high level speeches, who can blame them?
There were genuine highlights when Marc DuBois of Médecins Sans Frontières and Dr Ali Parsa of Circle Health took the stage, but inspiration from the higher echelons of the NHS was distinctly lacking. Sir David Nicholson, NHS chief executive and the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, were impressive only in being able to speak for such a long time while saying nothing at all. Those of us who rushed away from genuinely interesting and inspiring workshops to listen deserved more.
For me, Dr Dixon earned his exclamation mark, and next time I see him using one I will be sure to get excited. But what about Break through!? The failings of Nicholson, Lansley and some others meant that as a tagline to the conference, it didn’t quite earn its exclamation mark. However, as a call to action to all the speakers and delegates sharing good practice and excellent advice? I’m with Michael Dixon: Break through!