But is anyone naive enough to think things are going to
change?
Two days after the report came out, the headlines have disappeared from the BBC website, showing the lack of interest shown by the general public.
Don’t get me wrong – Possibly 1,200 patients may have died earlier or even needlessly. But their relatives won’t get much comfort from the report; no-one’s head is to roll – no-one is accountable. All Robert Francis has done is set up a massive industry for Consultant and Conference organisers to milk for the next decade.
But as nhsManagers.net says:
Hours before the Francis report was published Number 10 had decided that its 290 recommendations were not enough. One more was needed. The Prime Minister announced he alone had the solution; an Inspector of Hospitals. If that is the solution I suspect Francis would have said so. Why didn’t he? Because he knows what we know; it is bureaucracy that got us into this mess. More bureaucracy is the last thing we need. Daft idea but the lad has to look busy so he’s had his two-penny-worth. That’s the trouble; everyone will want to have their two-penny-worth. Two hundred and ninety one recommendations will become 291 headings, 500 sub-sets, 1,500 reports and three thousand complications, report-backs, work-groups, committees and a shed-load of costs.
The massive Francis report will be the NHS’ F-word for quite a while. What is missing from his report are a few more ‘F’ words;
But ‘Dave’ in No. 10 has a solution!
In response to the findings of the Francis Report into the failings at Mid-Stafford hospital, David Cameron announced that five other hospitals with persistently high death rates would be investigated. All the hospitals named have had high rates for two years. Yet the Dept. Health has waited until now to act.
The hospitals are:
- Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust
- Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Death rates are calculated by looking at the number of people that would be expected to die when taking into account the age and disease profile of the local population.
High death rates were one of the factors that triggered the original investigation into Stafford Hospital. While not necessarily proof there is a problem, they are a “smoke alarm” suggesting there could be.
The figures for the five hospitals were already known about within the NHS and were being monitored
However, will grieving relatives have to wait another two years before a report comes out? What these hopitals need is to appoint a Matron with the power to RUN the hospital, SACK incompetentS, decide WHERE funding is to go, and then do ward rounds EVERY day to talk to patients and LISTEN to their needs.
Don’t hold your breath – but be prepared for cost-saving measures such as Charing Cross Hospital: they are throwing out the water fountains.
The Mid Staffs public inquiry
See Francis on this video – it makes sad viewing:
http://www.itv.com/news/2013-02-06/key-recommendations-of-nhs-mid-staffordshire-public-inquiry/
Robert Francis QC delivers his statement, saying: “This is a story of appalling and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people”
There has been anger from some quarters after nobody lost their jobs as a result of the public inquiry.
James Duff’s wife Doreen died in the hospital. He said: “Not one person has lost their job over this – instead they have been promoted and some people have been moved sideways.
“This has been a disaster yet nobody is accountable.”
- The public inquiry is the fifth major investigation into what happened
- It has focused mainly on the commissioning, supervision and regulation of the trust from 2005 to 2009 – something campaigners felt had not been properly covered before
- It was chaired by Robert Francis QC, who also led the fourth major investigation
- It sat between November 2011 and December 2012 and cost £13m
- More than 160 witnesses appeared at the hearings and one million pages of evidence have been sifted through
- The final report contains 290 recommendations over nearly 1,800 pages.
He has also appointed Ann Clwyd, Welsh MP for Cynon Valley, to lead an investigation – now that’s more iike it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21357075
in the meantime
The government’s full response to the public inquiry will come next month, however, it has already been announced that a new post of chief inspector of hospitals will be created in the autumn.
Speaking in the House of Commons, David Cameron said he was “truly sorry” for what happened at Stafford Hospital, which was “not just wrong, it was truly dreadful” and the government needed to “purge” a culture of complacency.
Sir David Nicholson (how did he get a knighthood?) has been the focus of anger from families affected by the scandal. He is chief executive of the NHS and was briefly in charge of the Regional Health Authority while death rates were high at Stafford Hospital.
Responding to calls for him to go, he said: “I think it’s perfectly understandable, I understand the anger that they feel, the upset that they feel about the treatment of their loved ones in Mid-Staffordshire hospital.
“I absolutely understand all of that. At the time I apologised and in a sense I apologise again to the people of Stafford for what happened, but apologies are not enough.
“We need action, we need to make things happen.”
After Cancer 