Breaking bread together

To the Editor: Your recent experience in a staff cafeteria1 is clearly anecdotal, as are my own. I believe, however, the balance needs to be redressed.

There is little point in campaigning for “return of the doctors’ common dining room”, as, at least in the public sector, there are no funds available for this campaign. I have been very impressed with the camaraderie that exists in the staff cafeteria at Dandenong Hospital, Southern Health, because medical care is now a team approach and I have the opportunity to meet with medical students, interns, house medical officers, registrars, nurses and administrators, either over a cup of coffee provided free by the Health Service, or a meal. The staff cafeteria has been a meeting place for the team, engendering a team approach to medical care which, I believe, is appropriate to champion for the future of healthcare delivery in Australia.