With the performance of the Welsh economy and the NHS under increasing scrutiny from political figures, a former general practitioner has spoken out about the parallels between the two.

Success coach Dr Bridget Kirsop, who runs the Master Mind Group in Newport, has more than two decades of experience working in the NHS and has highlighted several parallels between the NHS and businesses in Wales which can be of benefit to the Welsh economy.

Dr Bridget, who worked as a GP for 23 years, said: "The NHS is a business. General practitioners are self-employed and have to co-ordinate running a business which often wasn’t why they went into medicine. Both businesses and the NHS provide services to an endpoint, customer or patient – so there are very clear similarities between the two. As with the NHS, there is a tendency to forget about what a business is there to provide. It is easy to put more focus on processes, standards maintenance and balancing the books rather than on the customer that is benefitting from the company's service and providing the money to keep the company from surviving and growing.’’

She said: ‘‘I left the NHS because I felt I wasn’t making a difference to patients. I wasn’t developing or enjoying the majority of my work; and that went against my personal values. I felt that the patient was no longer the focus of the NHS and looking after the needs of the patient was why I entered the NHS in the first place."

Businesses in Wales have long punched above their weight on an international platform – with the technology of half of the world’s smart phones, Raspberry Pi, being manufactured in Wales.

Dr Bridget feels that other Welsh business owners can create their own international success story by developing their staff and themselves to take control of their own and their staff’s motivation.

She said: "Similarly to the NHS, businesses have many external targets which increase pressure on staff and the funding of the services. Also, the public comments and views from politicians who have no real experience of what NHS staff are experiencing causes frustration and can lead to low morale. All this is on top of the personal pressures from balancing family and relationships with those pressures from the business - this can cause conflict for people.

"Neuro Linguistic Programming encourages a positive mindset which helps people to be motivated to achieve their goals and their company goals. NLP enables very quick results and changes in thinking, helping people in business look forward with confidence rather than backwards.

"If owners, managers and their teams understand how to get the best out of themselves, they will be successful. NLP training for business owners and NHS staff gives them the skills to make quick changes and understand how to get the best out of themselves and their work force. An NLP Trainer working with teams, can resolve problems, reduce stress and keep people in work rather than being stressed and absent from work with the resultant cost and effect on productivity, customers and morale."