Why understanding truth-avoidance might hold the key to healing our healthcare system (14 August 2025)

Summary

The question facing healthcare leaders today isn't whether we can continue managing the current system's contradictions. The staff survey results, public satisfaction data, and mortality evidence suggest we cannot. The question is whether we are ready to engage in the kind of honest institutional self-examination that meaningful reform requires.

This philosophical framework suggests reasons for both concern and hope. Institutional truth-avoidance patterns run deep and serve powerful psychological needs. But they're not immutable. When external pressures create space for difficult conversations genuine transformation becomes possible.

In this LinkedIn post, Stevan Bruijns, National Specialist Advisor: Emergency Medicine (South West), shares his reflections on urgent and emergency care, institutional behaviour and the path forward.