NHS 400 Deaths God Is Aquitted But Patient Details Not Minuted

Cartoon By Kakatoo

Anything else to be squeezed out from this story ? Oh yes there is - do read on ..

Alan Johnson the Secretary Of State opposes a Public Enquiry into examination of the Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust 400 extra patient deaths (beyond the expected rate) . The Health Care Commission took quite a time to reveal the problems at Mid Staffs and the main public whistleblower Julie Bailey (who runs a cafe) with her concerns over the death of her mother Bella quite clearly did an important job of cutting right through the sleeping layers of NHS bureaucracy that surrounded change at Mid Staffs .

The current CEO of the Mid Staffs NHS Trust too opposes a Public Enquiry .

From The Staffordshire Newsletter :

"Mr Morton [CEO] said everyone had been shocked at how bad the report was but he saw no reason for a public inquiry despite calls from MPs and campaigners.

He said: "I think the Healthcare Commission was set up to do exactly what it has done. There is nothing more public than that. There is also the Sir George Alberti investigation, which will last at least four weeks."

UserWatch says : the amazing facts are that there was an Independent Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPI) up to the time of Mid Staffs bidding to become a Foundation Trust . Two of the lead members of the PPI in fact became FT Governors .

The independent PPI's though were disbanded in March 2008 and ever since a hiatus in independent lay scrutiny has dominated the UK .. Its a Dept of Health and Gov't designer mess now called "LINks" (Local Involvement Networks) and it is not carrying any serious scrutiny weight at all .

What appears to have happened across the UK is "Partnership arrangements" but when you decode this in the company of previous lay scrutineers of health, it pans out to mean , too close a public assimilation into the bureaucratic and managment mechanisms of the State ..

Critically for health the public have to be able to depend on "Independent mindedness" without any conflicts of interest . FT in-house Governors are in fact a weak link to the public and were for the main self appointed and elected unopposed. The Trusts too have made them very in-house orientated and some patients feel they are "tamed" ..

Interestingly David Denny a Non Executive (appointed for the public interest) who is leaving Mid Staffs after 9 years on the Board, queries on 18th March (in reponse to another poster on Health Service Journal) why details surrounding Patient Safety and quality did not enter the Board minutes at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Hospital; Trust

From Health Service Journal

(Its amazing no-one in the British press has picked this up !)

"Added: Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:26 GMT
David Denny, Stafford, United Kingdom

The very point I've been trying to make in other threads. There is so much that is inaccurate in the reporting and the HCC report; The Board did not discuss patient safety and quality - rubbish, it was discussed at every opportunity but it appears was not recorded as such in the minutes.

The Board didn't consider complaints - wrong. The Board were focussed on FT - yes, but only as a means to reinvest in patient services and move away from the DoH. I could write a book, maybe that's not a bad idea! "

As far as NHS complaints are concerned (as a mechanism of creating awareness of NHS problems) the UK Health Ombudsman themselves criticized the two complaint processes of NHS and Social Care - declaring that both together (and some patients do have dual services of Social Care and Health systems) they were often unnavigable. The NHS one alone was also criticized .

Its not surprising when you look at what the Labour Govt did by having two seperate Statutory Instruments in Health (2004) and Social Care(2006) - which created confusing layers of double processes to go through despite the 2001 Health and Social Care Act which proclaimed "Integration of services"... Its only NOW in the coming April 2009 that a new complaints system will be integrated more effectively ..

The big question is :

Who arranged all of these years when effective complaints systems were compromised ?

God ? No .. It was UK Government .

SEE NHS SYSTEM COMPLAINT CRITICISED CLICK HERE

Also see the Ombudsman's new office recruitment drive below :

"Home > News > Archive

News archive

Latest news

15 July 2008

PHSO plans major recruitment campaign

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is to set up an Office in Manchester for up to 150 staff, and will soon launch a major recruitment drive. This will be part of the build-up to the implementation of the two-stage system for NHS complaints in April 2009.

A range of posts in both London (where the Ombudsman already has an Office) and Manchester will be advertised in national, local and specialist press from September 2008. They will include opportunities for people with relevant skills, knowledge and experience to join PHSO as case workers, customer service officers, clinical advisers, managers and administrative support staff. A separate recruitment process will be available for any applicants who are currently employed in complaint handling by the Healthcare Commission.

People who wish to register an interest in working with PHSO should email us with details of the type of roles they are interested in. We will send them application details when vacancies are advertised. "

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