The response in today's Britain is to silence the whistleblower.
Deaths, lies and the NHS: Shocking new healthcare scandals emerge in UK
RT,
14
Febraury, 2013
A
British health manager warned the boss of the NHS four years ago that
his hospital was a threat to patients’ safety. A nationwide
investigation into avoidable hospital deaths has found that such
warnings from doctors were often silenced or ignored.
Gary
Walker, the former chief of United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, was
silenced in 2010 under a £500,000 ‘super gag’ agreement; he is
now risking legal action by the NHS by speaking out. Walker
reportedly received the payment last year; his former employer now
faces a major investigation over its unusually high death rates, in
the midst of the Stafford inquiry fallout.
Walker
said that the chief of the NHS chief was “not
interested in patient safety,” and
called on him to resign to end the“culture
of fear” he
had created in the NHS, Britain’s Daily Mail reported.
Walker
spoke to the BBC in an exclusive interview for its ‘Today’ show
on Radio 4, in which he explained that his hands had been tied: “I
was in danger of losing my house – I have children to support. And
one thing you must remember that if you're attacking the very top of
the NHS the sanctions are pretty dramatic.”
On
Tuesday, shortly after learning of his plans to appear on national
radio, the NHS wrote a letter to Walker reminding that, “If
you have provided an interview or should this interview proceed you
will be in clear breach of the agreement and as a result the Trust
would be entitled to recover from you the payments made under the
agreement.”
The
letter reiterated that he was legally obliged not to inform anyone,
besides family, of the terms of the gag agreement. The letter was
released by the Lincolnshire Independents, a minor British political
party, alongside other correspondences. The party said it
was “shocked
at the documents we have uncovered.”
Walker
was fired in 2010, allegedly for using profanity during meetings. He
and his supporters claimed that he was forced out for whistleblowing.
Leaked Letters reveal systemic neglect
New
leaked letters have shown that doctor concerns over the Lincolnshire
hospital were constantly ignored, despite that medical staff often
challenged management about policies that threatened patient safety.
The number of ‘excess’ deaths at Lincolnshire Hospital stood at
677 between 2009 and 2012, according to David Bowles, the former
chair of United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust. Bowles said he quit
over such dangerous target-setting.
In
one letter, a doctor described a complex 10-hour medical procedure as
a “major
operation with major risks attached.” The
patient’s operation was then postponed, because there were no
Intensive Care Unit beds available at Lincolnshire Hospital in
central England.
Another
letter outlined the serious threat to the public caused by excessive
targets, as well as intimidation from above:“I
must make you aware of my concerns about the balance between patient
safety and targets and inform you that in my view the current bullish
and sometimes ruthless pressure from above on the management team in
my Directorate is unfair and unacceptable,” a
clinical director told Paul Richardson, NHS Trust Chair of United
Lincolnshire Hospitals.
One
more anonymous doctor begins, “I
am writing in the immediate aftermath of today’s tragic death of an
otherwise well patient,” adding
that ward staffing levels were inadequate for postoperative care, and
that the “enormous
pressure” exerted
by target requirements resulted in ad-hoc arrangements for short
notice surgery.
Lincolnshire
Hospital is one of nine others that over the last week were slated to
be investigated for unusually high death rates in the wake of the
Stafford inquiry results. The Stafford inquiry was part of a
long-term investigation into the hospital’s filthy wards,
unnecessary deaths and understaffing.
Stafford Inquiry
The
revelation comes shortly after inquiries into some 1,000 ‘avoidable’
UK hospital deaths in Stafford, central England, which concluded
earlier this month that “corporate
self-interest and cost-control” were
to blame for the wider-scale NHS problems that allowed the deaths to
happen.
Inquiry
head Robert Francis, QC, urged for greater protection for NHS
whistleblowers, as it emerged that many who try to speak out against
hospital management are silenced. Many complaints were voiced about
standards of patient care at the central England hospital, but they
either went ignored or were given no adequate response, despite
approximately 1,000 deaths.
Harrowing
accounts of poor standards of care and hygiene and patients dying in
undignified circumstances plagued the institution; further reports
emerged of patient neglect and the failure to supply basic
provisions.
One
patient’s relative reported that health and safety rules prevented
drinks from being left out at night, leading thirsty patients to
drink water out of a flower vase. Relatives of two other patients
reported that their family members had been dropped.
Others
fell victim to deadly infections rampant in the filthy wards, such as
the superbugs C. dificile and MRSA. One relative said that her mother
was so badly infected with C. dificile that she had to be buried in a
sealed body bag.
Whistleblowers silenced
There
have been serious attempts to discredit, bully, or fire NHS
whistleblowers, which resulted in a media scandal last August.
Kay
Sheldon, a board member of a UK healthcare watchdog, raised concerns
that poor leadership and performance were a threat to public safety.
She was diagnosed as possibly suffering from schizophrenia by an
external assessor in a clear attempt to discredit her.
Many
whistleblowers fear reprisal, as it there is a high possibility that
they could be fired by those they raise concerns about. And in
September, Labour MP Katy Clarke pointed out that lawyers
representing the NHS were all too often silenced using gagging
clauses when settling employment cases.
“I
warned [David Nicholson, NHS boss] that Lincolnshire was
going to become the next Mid Staffordshire. He didn’t investigate
those concerns, and now look what’s happened,” Walker
said.
“We
cannot allow the disgraceful culture highlighted in the
Mid-Staffordshire report to put Lincolnshire patients at risk,”said
Chris Brewis, an independent politician on the Health Scrutiny
Committee at Lincolnshire County Council.
The
NHS and the government do not seem able to “learn from the old
inquires that have been from 30 years ago”, David Lawrence from the
London National Health Action Party told RT.
“The
problem is that we don’t know yet how to avoid these [incidents] in
the future and the government doesn’t know,”Lawrence
added. “And
that has got to be one of the main focuses of all our efforts –
people who work in the NHS and all of us in the community to find out
how to prevent the sorts of things going on. The pressures on the NHS
have always been there. And I think over the last 20 years it got
worse.”
UK
emergency queues hit decade high
A
new survey shows that emergency queues at hospitals in England is at
its highest in a decade.
The
number of patients waiting for treatment in Accident and Emergency
(A&E) departments at hospitals in England has reached its
highest level in ten years, a new report shows.
14 February,
2013
According to
figures released by the think tank The King’s Fund, from October
to December 2012 over 232,000 patients waited more than four hours
in A&E wards, showing a rise of 21 percent when compared to the
same period in 2011 and the highest figure for those months since
2003.
Moreover, the organization said the pressure on emergency care was a “baraometer” for how the National Health Service (NHS) is coping with the financial squeeze.
British shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said, “A&E departments are suffering their worst winter for a decade.”
The report also featured a survey of finance directors in the NHS, in which a third said the quality of patient care in their area has worsened during the past year.
Critics said the figures were a clear sign that NHS cuts were biting, as the British government’s target that no more than five percent of patients must wait over four hours is close to being breached.
Moreover, the organization said the pressure on emergency care was a “baraometer” for how the National Health Service (NHS) is coping with the financial squeeze.
British shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said, “A&E departments are suffering their worst winter for a decade.”
The report also featured a survey of finance directors in the NHS, in which a third said the quality of patient care in their area has worsened during the past year.
Critics said the figures were a clear sign that NHS cuts were biting, as the British government’s target that no more than five percent of patients must wait over four hours is close to being breached.
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