Stafford Hospital Inquiry - now the sham

[John Marwood]

word reaches me on the next stage at Stafford Hospital - I do hope I am wrong

8 weeks for an inquiry into so many individual cases?

More in depth?

Impossible.

When investigating just one case this can take up to 6 months, how can an investigation set a time limit on so many deaths?

Sham


(Apologies if I have jumped the gun on this but my source is usually reliable)


PS A Farwell Mr Kidney too on this one I think, whatever the outcomes..

 

[tek-monkey]

Hasn't Kidney got a new role lined up anyway?

 

[basil]

These enquiries can cost millions and some fat cat 'experts' can end up a lot fatter. Agreed it's an emotive one but surely the money could be put to a better use. Yet what concerns me is that since this story hit the heads i've visited the SDGH half a dozen times and there is no signs of improvement. Sadly i feel that some staff can now hide behind the news as they are deemed blameless this is indicitive that managers are not doing there jobs, i.e. managing, coaching, developing and vital in such an environment motivating staff........

 

[John Marwood]

The whole sorry story cannot be blamed upon a few managers alone - even though they have all played their part

Successive governments have rotted away the core of our health service by bringing in a whole new way of working, which put simply means that each particular department has to buy services from each other department and therefore to do this there has to be procurement managers, competative tendering, fines when services are not delivered etc etc and all within a service that you and I thought was there to make you better with doctors and nurses.

Governments will also tell you that they have ploughed millions of (our ) money into the NHS

Achieving NHS Foundation Trust status or Foundation Hospital status has brought about this whole sorry mess and cost us millions

More than 100 of these trusts exist in the UK and to achieve this status ( again - health workers playing badly at businessmen and 'managing' their own budgets ) the authorities have taken the Government's ( pick any from Thatcher on ) Shilling and lost sight of the fact the that they are here to keep us alive , nevermind healthy.

The Government seem hopelessly lost and have no opt out mechanisms for failing authorities like Stafford so will continually pass the buck back down the line and we, the uses will forever suffer

These results we will all see for years and years to come

Also

What they are not readily telling us is that Private Finance Iniatives or PFI's will soak up our money for the rest of our lives.

A company builds a new hospital or wing or health centre, then leases it back to the Government ( us ) We, the tax payer then pay the private company rent on (their) hospital for time imemorial. The hospital is run as a business, therefore, like all businesses, corners will be cut on even the basic things like cleaning.ie employing contract cleaners at a cut rate who have no care in their work as they are all short time and on minimum wage

To make our own hospital well again will take far far more than outsiders telling us we live in a disaster area

If ,when your local ambulanceman tells you that your relative who has had a heart attack needs to be driven all the way to Wolverhampton otherwise he will die, well, you tend to take notice

 

[tek-monkey]

Its the same in all government 'agencies', success is measured on targets set by those who don't necessarily understand the business at hand. To get funding, you meet the targets. Without the funding you can't do the job, so you aim for the targets to enable you to work. Then as targets are raised, more and more resources are spent trying to attain these targets and at some point the whole reason to exist becomes lost.

 

[basil]

i'd hazard a guess that most folk engage with the SDGH at the level which is usually involves A&E, outpatients, general and acute treatment wards. The business and politics dunna interest them at all. Yet at these levels the service is lacking on a daily basis, try sitting in a corridor for 3hrs and on asking when you'll be seen, a member of staff rolls eyes back into head takes a sharp intake of breath and generally makes patients/customers feel unwelcome. Rule number 1 seems to be, "Do not make eye contact" and then they won't be bothered by patients. The problems are institutionalised........

 

[djstaffs]

I think basil has summed it up in just 4 words "The problems are institutionalised........"
The top of the tree at SDGH didnt care about the patients and from then on that attitude cascadded downwards. We now know the board didnt care about anything but getting that "Foundation trust" status at any cost. Targets were met but only because without it they couldnt achieve their aim. So i am afraid i do hold the former board resposible. Now we have the top people replaced i am sure we shall find we will have a service to be proud of, but not for some time.

There has been some speak on here about targets and the way hospitals are run. I have mixed feelings about this. We find we have a mix of clinical staff making business decisions and business people making decisions that effect clinical work. I have seen it done very badly but also seen it done very well. Whats is crucial surely is that the goverments should of offere support when doing this.

Just to come to a point John Marwood made about this not being blamed on a few managers. Well from my opening words i think you can guess, in this situation, it is all blamed on the managers. The poor service from frontline staff is the result of poor support and understanding from above.

Finally just so you know where i am coming from i once worked at SDGH and left because i could see the pronlems and how bad it was (yes i did raise concerns). I went to work at a different trust where we do have problems but we are not a foundation trust and from top down the empasis is on quality of service not achieving a certain faoundation status. Targets are met but with aim to improve quality not just tick a box.

lol think thats enuf from me for now lol

 

[basil]

the new kid on the block at SDGH certainly talks a good game, "i'm a public servant and that's what i'm here to, serve the public"..."we need to give people evidence that demonstrates improvements in a real way"... "very visible presence"..... "i think it brings you down to earth when you go out and meet people, you need to be accountable to the public"..... he'll be meeting me sooner than he thinks.........

 

[basil]

All in all a nice chap, yet somehow i've got an inkling that this guy knows what he's doing and also he fully understands what the task involves. Under-performers at the SDGH beware......

 

[Gramaisc]

Let's hope so. It's a big ship, in a heavy sea.....

 

[John Marwood]

dank, drifting, drowning, bereft big raft I beseach thee

Amen Corner

 

[basil]

i'd have said it was a heavy ship in a big sea......

 

[John Marwood]

You just did

 

[basil]

1st stage culling next month........

 

[John Marwood]

Cull Avenue?

or Prospect Road?

 

[basil]

Trenchard or Douglas ?......

 

[John Marwood]

Tixall boxes

 

[Gramaisc]

Is there any Prospect of improvement?

 

[djstaffs]

Is there any Prospect of improvement?

I should think every chance, wont take much to make improvements there since its so bad

 

[basil]

It's a little over 4months since the scandal up there hit the headlines, the initial fury and media spotlight has moved on, I note that the member for Stone has gone a bit quiet on this one. I state this out of no particular bias i just seem to recall that (out of all the useless twats) the pompous boorish gobshite made the most political gain out of the problem.......