Did
things just happen or was there a master plan?
The
NHS has been subjected to reform, re-reform and re-re-reform over a number of
years with little actual improvement in clinical care to patients. Yet the
bonus culture has led to side effects that were normally the domain of bankers
and financiers.
But
when you have such Pavlovian salivating dog being in charge of Hospitals and
Health Care, the outcome would have been predictable.
As
we have seen, banks failed and yet there is money to rescue them, our money. When
NHS Hospitals fail, it is a sure way to persuade the general public to accept
private providers.
But
why are we able to promote NHS as a quality brand in places like Dubai
Unbelievable!
Unbelievable! Unbelievable!
In a previous post:Mid-Staffordshire: Unbelievable! Unbelievable! Unbelievable!
I mentioned the film Rashomon. Here is how it ended:
“As the film ends an abandoned baby could be heard crying as the rain stopped. The priest who was probably going to kill himself for how bad the world has become regained his faith in humanity when the woodcutter offered to look after the baby.
He had 6 children and he was struggling; but he decided to keep the abandoned baby as one more would not have made his life any more difficult.”
Are we going to have a similar ending: one of hope, hope for humanity.
An
unprecedented array of key figures in the NHS will be castigated next week in the
hard-hitting final report of a public inquiry into who caused – or failed to
prevent – the Mid Staffordshire healthcare scandal. Between 400 and 1,200
people died unnecessarily as a result of treatment at Stafford
hospital between January 2005 and March 2009.
The report by Robert Francis QC, who chaired an inquiry lasting
more than two years, should help grieving relatives understand why poor care
went unchecked for so long. But it will be devastating for the NHS, and a large
number of managers, health professionals and regulators will be criticised for
their role in the worst hospital scandal in recent memory.
They will be accused of incompetence, misjudgment and not
responding properly to evidence that patients' safety was at risk from neglect,
too few staff and sometimes inhuman care.
Francis's report was delayed in October after he sent warning
letters to 20 individuals or organisations. According to sources close to the
inquiry, the letters set out privately and in advance the criticisms he
intended to make publicly in his final report and the evidence on which he had
based his conclusions.
Many recipients, who were among the 164 witnesses who gave
evidence during 139 days of hearings over 37 weeks between November 2010 and
December 2011, sought legal advice before replying.
"Nobody in the NHS will emerge from Francis with any
credit, I think – from the most senior NHS leaders to everyone at the hospital
itself," said Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association,
who had core participant status at the inquiry.
"I hope the report is wide-ranging, in-depth and unsparing
in explaining why these things happened and why NHS regulation failed so
abysmally and why senior NHS figures behaved as they did."
Would that
include Martin Yeates?
Mr Yeates, who resigned with a pay-off of more than £400,000 and a £1
million pension pot from Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust, which runs the
hospital, told the inquiry he was too ill to appear in person.
Bereaved families said they were appalled to learn that Mr Yeates has
now taken a job as chief executive of a health charity, Impact Alcohol and
Addiction Services, which hold contracts with the NHS.
Unbelievable!
Unbelievable! Unbelievable!
Mid Staffordshire: The Modern Witch Hunt
Blogs:
Jobbing Doctor: Poor bloody infantry.
Hospital Dr: Mid Staffs was driven by targets and cost-cutting
The Report:
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