UK Anaesthetist Turns Hairdresser, Says He is Fed Up With NHS Bureaucracy

He had enough. He threw away his steth in disgust and took up a pair of scissors. And he is flourishing. The remarkable story of an NHS consultant in UK.

Former clinical director in anaesthesia Roger Tackley quit his £100,000 job to open his own salon.

He claims the incredibly long hours and frustration of working within a suffocating bureaucracy all added up his disillusionment as a doctor.

And a chance meeting with celebrity stylist Trevor Sorbie further inspired the 56-year-old to quit medicine.

The former Torbay hospital consultant is delighted to have changed direction after opening his own salon in Paignton, Devon.

He said: ‘I got fed up with all the red tape and the restrictions on what we were allowed to do.

‘I did not get the opportunity to try out new ideas.

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‘My hands were tied often waiting for approval from above.

‘I had very little power to make any changes - I could make recommendations but nothing ever got done.

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‘All these things just added up in the end and it was time for a change.

‘For instance when I started as a clinical consultant if a new drug or a new technique in anaesthesia came around I could try it out, using my clinical judgement, obviously not putting patients at risk.

‘But then if anything is a major change from the standard procedure you have to wait for ethical approval or clinical trials to be done.

‘I just thought there’s more to life than spending 100 hours a week in a hospital.

‘I was very stressed and a bungee jump just put me in the right mood to chuck it in - I finished my job as clinical director in 1999,’ he said.

‘I studied two nights a week at South Devon College but I was very worried about fitting in as I was older.

‘But I got so much encouragement I knew it was what I wanted to do,’ he added.

He was further enthused after a chance meeting with Trevor Sorbie on a train in November 2000 when the celebrity hairdresser told him to go for it.

Certainly hairdressing is more fun than sticking a needle in people, Tackley told a reporter of the Daily Mail.

Now the father-of-two is looking forward to being his own boss after 19 years as a consultant.

He even advised his younger son who is studying to be a doctor to chuck his course, but the son is not listening, at least not as of now.

Source-Medindia
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