In Pursuit of the Best - a fractured fairy tale

Once upon a time, there was a gentle little town that prospered and enjoyed many wonderful things, including a hospital complete with all the services the people required, such as a surgery, an emergency room, laboratory and diagnostics, and a place for them to have their babies.

Years later, the town joined forces with three other areas in order for them all to keep their hospitals afloat and maintain the services they enjoyed, even though some services were centralized in the other areas.

The townspeople were happy and continued to prosper.

Then came a day when they realized that they could do better. They should have all the services in their own hospital, and not have to travel to other centres. So, they fund-raised and called on their politicians for support, and with the help of the local physicians and the hospital board, they agreed to bring a magical device to their hospital – a Drive CT scanner – which would be state-of-the-art technology and allow for even more services to be done at their own hospital.

All the politicians supported it, the hospital board supported it, the hospital foundation supported it, and the townspeople supported it.

Until one day, everything changed.

A city-slicker came to town and told the hospital board that it could do better. He knew of an improved technical device – the Edge Plus CT scanner – which would slice and dice and do Julienne fries at a cheaper price. This would free up the money that people had donated in support of the new machine, for other projects way, way into the future.

He conjured up magnificent dreams of a refurbished hospital, complete with a brand new operating room, superior diagnostic imaging, a grand emergency department – everything their little hearts could desire - in the next 10-20 years.

Draped in shrouds of secrecy, the board agreed to follow this man’s recommendation because they didn’t want to be seen as stupid or inept, and they certainly wanted to save money for all these incredible future improvements to the hospital.

The board then tried to convince the gentle townsfolk at meeting after meeting, weaving tales of a super-magnificent facility, with all the bells and whistles, the flag-ship of the amalgamated hospital corporation.

Some people believed, others remained opposed, and this peaceful little town was divided right down the middle. Meanwhile, the city-slicker maintained that the deluxe, super-duper Edge Plus would do everything they needed – for now.

Finally, as the day drew closer to order the machine, the hospital board hosted one more meeting and the townsfolk attended. The city-slicker once more put forth his shiny new machine of choice, while the doctors, the local politicians and members of the community argued in favour of the Drive CT scanner.

Suddenly, a little boy stood up in the middle of the meeting and asked, “Why don’t you just get the CT scanner that everybody wants?”

The hospital board members woke up out of their trance, looked at each other and realized their error.

The Drive CT was purchased and they all lived happily ever after.