ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the healthcare professions as articulated and delivered in the UK now face a dilemma, articulated for some years as the conflict between humanity and bureaucracy. It presents an unashamedly personal perspective, the story of how a well-meaning activist can become co-opted into meeting the neo-liberalist agenda. The chapter contains threads indicating resilience and hope for the future. Like the current auto-ethnographic turn in social science research, building on the earlier biographical turn, the chapter seeks to illuminate the cultural context through the lens of individual experience. The Francis report heralds an overdue 'wake-up' call to the realisation that 'something important is missing' in current health and social care practices and systems. The chapter concludes with a short polemical statement for the future.
