Transcript P2 (Wilson)
The significance of ambition Tim Wilson Visiting Fellow, PEALS Forensic Pathology Symposium, Durham 2009 1 Lack of ambition is not necessarily a bad thing • The art of good government often lies in not being overambitious: because of urgency, lack of consensus or direction, avoidance of challenging established distribution of power and resources. • Forensic pathology in England and Wales has benefited from significant remedial action, but: If not in crisis may still be fragile Is not protected from crisis elsewhere • Key question for me: has the time come to be ambitious? Forensic Pathology Symposium, Durham 2009 2 Recognising ambition; we can afford (& cannot not afford not to be) ambitious? • National Research Council (NRC) publication: Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (2009) • Report of the Inquiry into Paediatric Pathology in Ontario (Goudge Report) (2008) • UK CJS consumption as percentage of GDP is the highest within G20 countries and a significantly greater proportion of funding than in the USA is for the prevention and investigation of crime • We should encourage ambition among others Forensic Pathology Symposium, Durham 2009 3 Ambition for forensic pathology needs to be a common enterprise rather than shared crisis Warning from Goudge: ‘offshore’ recruitment as initial government response to insufficient number of qualified forensic pathologists in Ontario Forensic Pathology Symposium, Durham 2009 4 Recognising ambition NRC Goudge • 1927 recommendations noted but not interrogated • National qualifications /standards need to be implemented • Debt relief for entrants into forensic medicine • Utilization of new technologies • Home land security to justify weakest link common good intervention/ federal funds • Detailed analysis/ social obligation informed proposals • Resolve risk of isolation through ‘collaborative culture of quality’ • Three unique clinical pillars: service, teaching and research • Thinking ‘truth’ not ‘dirty’ • Central case (timeliness?)tracking • CFP to enforce clinical standards for all coronial pathology • More FTE posts doing greater proportion of autopsies Forensic Pathology Symposium, Durham 2009 5 Just some suggested issues/questions • On the edge of crisis: individual and practice? • Not always recognised (Goudge did) what is in place and has been achieved? • Is there any place for forensic pathology ‘in one country’ and do we need a stronger bridge between common and civil law countries? • Strategy, structures & depth/range of research? • Time for reform not compromise? Forensic Pathology Symposium, Durham 2009 6