I was talking with a friend recently who said she retired from nursing years earlier than she would have liked as her workplace had become unbearable. 

Her time was spent ticking boxes, with little left over for the real work of nursing, which was no longer valued.

“As if ticking the boxes actually meant you did all those things,” she confided.

If one thinks about the shortages of personnel in nursing, general practice and even teaching for that matter, there seems to be a common trend towards abandoning the caring professions.