The Humanitarian Crisis In The NHS Worsens. (566)

To the Health Secretary:
For Clarity - Attempt 566.

566) The Humanitarian Crisis In The NHS Worsens.

Dear Mr Hunt,

The AA rout planner tells us that it is a 52 minute 42.3 drive from Torbay Hospital to Plymouth's Derriford Hospital. Possibly quicker if you happen to be a pregnant woman and travelling in an ambulance - should one be available.

That's the frightening and daunting prospect facing Devon's mums-to-be should the planned cuts to 32 acute hospital beds and axing of maternity services drawn up by Torbay Hospital's Chief Operating Officer, Liz Davenport, go ahead.

It seems that the only one who will be left operating at Torbay Hospital in the future will be Liz Davenport should these appalling "austerity" cuts be allowed to happen.

Colleen Smith, reporting for The Express and Echo told us that,
"Due to a £50m black hole it is feared specialist maternity and baby care will be centralised in Plymouth."
And,
"' We now believe the time is right to close 32 acute beds' Ms Davenport confirmed."

Ms Davenport, the time is never right to close 32 acute beds.

Q. Mr Hunt, doesn't Ms Davenport realise that there is a growing and aging population?

Like elsewhere in the NHS, senior operating officers such as Ms Davenport clearly haven't heeded David Davis' dictum to, "trust the people" and so, yet again, hugely important decisions continue to be made behind the scenes.

Colleen Smith quotes Paul Raybould, the Secretary of Torbay Trades Union Council as saying the consultation process surrounding these draconian cuts was, "NHS waffle."

This comes on top of 44 beds cut with the closure of community hospitals in; Paignton, Dartmouth, Bovey Tracey and Ashburton.

Meanwhile, according to Transparency International, the London Property Market continues to be the money laundering capital of choice for the world's despots, dictators and drug barons. There are thousands of such properties registered to off-shore companies - just selling a handful would plug Devon's black hole, send a strong message to those, "helping to break our property market" and help ease the understandable anxieties of pregnant women living miles from Plymouth's Derriford Hospital.

On Tuesday evening BBC's File on 4 was the chilling, "Speaking Up - Whistleblowing in the NHS" The BBC website gives an excellent account of the programme. Anyone who is concerned about the unacceptable culture of bullying, racism, intimidation, doctoring of records and general lying through the teeth that plagues the NHS, should try to listen to it.

The BBC's site says;
"Freedom to Speak Up" was commissioned by the government to create a more open culture within the NHS following the Mid Staffs inquiry which unearthed the poor care and high mortality rates at Staffs Hospital.

The report - which considered evidence from 600 individuals and 43 organisations across the country included chilling accounts of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals whose lives and careers had been destroyed after trying to raise legitimate concerns about patient safety.

Whistle - blowers said they'd been financially ruined, blacklisted and on the verge of suicide after being branded snitches and troublemakers.

Revealing a culture of secrecy with trusts demonising whistle-blowers instead of welcoming and, investigating their concerns, it was hoped the report would herald a new era of openness and accountability."

Phil, the NUPE Shop Steward at the hospital I once worked in lost his job on the strength of the testimony of an un-named patient who just happened to be looking out of the top floor window at the same time as Phil was returning to work, apparently 10 minutes late.

Sadly, little seems to have changed in 40 years.

If we're to have an Honours List surely the Queen should be awarding whistle-blowers with gongs and not the likes of Sir Philip Green. Perhaps there should be a People's Honours List. Perhaps there should be a National Health Compensation Scheme for whistle-blowers  - a scheme into which senior executives are forced to pay each and every time one of their employees stands up, challenges vested interests and attempts to right the wrongs they see going on around them. Wrongs which are left unchallenged by their senior management.

Whilst all this was going on, one of the regions MPs was standing in the Commons and speaking on the subject of seagulls and the threat they posed to the nation's health and security.

Someone should write a play about it.

Q. Mr Hunt, why aren't senior executives financially penalised for their failure to trust the people and comply with their Freedom of Information Act / Data protection Act requests?
Q. Mr Hunt, why aren't senior executives financially penalised for unacceptable delays in responding fully to people's complaints?
Q. Mr Hunt,  doesn't Monitor insist on a 7th category when inspecting CCGs' performance - that of transparency and accountability?
Q. Mr Hunt, why is the CEO of Livewell Southwest Ltd permitted to have an Anonymous Desk Top Reviewer who hands out single-sentence unsubstantiated decisions which result in colossal bills for nursing care for his patients?

Yours sincerely,
Steve Gilbert.

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