Sir Bruce Keogh published a report, this week, into hospital deaths within the 'envy of the world' - the NHS.
The report was commissioned by the UK Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health, following the publication of the Mid Staffordshire Public enquiry (see here. http://bit.ly/1222EJK). This earlier report followed what can only be described as inhuman treatment of patients at Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals. At the time, the Strategic Health Authority was led by Sir David Nicholson - now head of NHS England and the minister in charge was Andy Burnham, the emoting Merseyside MP who is currently Ed Miliband's shadow Health secretary.
So what did this report find?
Well, it looked at the 14 hospital trusts that had abnormally high mortality rates and its findings speak to a common problem across the NHS - that is, a provider-led service which is more concerned with it's own preservation and conditions than those of patients. The report found 'trust boards and management teams struggling to understand and deal with the complex issues of high mortality, particularly relating to urgent and emergency care'. Read that again! These 'leaders' were 'struggling' to handle the very things that they were put in place to deal with. These are senior medical 'professionals' not street sweepers or pint-pulling barmen. And yes, it is 'brain surgery' in some cases but they are supposed to know how to deal with this!
All but two of the trusts had what are called 'never events'. 'Never events' are 'serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents that should not occur if the available preventative measures have been implemented'. Especially concerning was that many of the trusts had multiple 'never events'. I read this to mean that the subsequent deaths were largely avoidable, or to put it another way, these people died because of the NHS
The report is, generally speaking, kind to the medical staff but hidden within are comments about junior doctors and nurses access to senior clinical staff being less than optimal. Also about poor coverage at weekends. To me this is code for 'those highly compensated consultants choose when they work, it is 9-5 and they only do Monday through Friday'.
There is talk of high rates of sickness absence and this having to be overcome by the use of agency nurses and locum doctors. Absence from work in the whole public sector is high and seems to be considered as yet another 'perk of the job'! So no real surprise there!
And what of the 'left' and it's Guardian and biased-BBC allies? Well, they have been somewhat quiet about this. They haven't called for any heads to roll - methinks that this because the only heads that should 'roll' are those of Burnham and Nicholson - and the greatest stick that the left-wing media commonly use to beat the Tories with,- lack of funding and local issues (as in underfunded local communities or 'send more taxpayer money') is completely discredited.
As you would expect, the Labour Party response is to accuse anyone that points out that this report is yet another damning indictment of their mis-handling of the NHS, of 'playing politics'. This is the same Labour Party that previously 'played politics' by saying that the NHS was safe in their hands and that the Tories would privatize the NHS. Readers of this blog will know of the many previous examples of hypocrisy of which Labour can be accused but this must rank among the highest ones. Labour's boast, through 13 years of mis-government was that only they could ensure that the NHS was adequately funded. They did this as, having found that a shovel wasn't big enough, they decided to employ a bull-dozer to push cash in the way of the NHS. And to what end result? People dying unnecessarily and in great pain and without a shred of dignity by the caring, sharing NHS!
At the root of it, that's the problem with Labour. Their solution to anything is to throw tax-payer money at it. Whatever the problem - more spending. Nothing cannot be cured with more government (as in tax-payer) money. The Labour Party hold-up the NHS as their greatest achievement - people dying unnecessarily - some achievement!!
Here are some snippets arising from the report.
Terry Day, a 35 year-old had been diagnosed with a low grade brain tumour. When he was admitted to Basildon and Thurrock Trust A&E 13 months later, staff failed to take the condition into account. No neurological assessments were carried out and his airways were not checked. When his tumour haemorrhaged, he went into cardiac and suffered brain damage. He died 20 days before his planned wedding.
The CEO of Basildon hospital received a £72,000 pay-off as compensation for loss of office. This came on top of the salary he received, of £150,000 in the period April to September 2012 and an additional, tax-free payment of £30,000. Oh and he had a pension pot of $1.7Million - that should give an annual pension of more than £85,000 a year, for the rest of his life.
Two operating theatres immediately shut down at North Cumbria University Hospital Trusts over hygiene concerns.
Trust Number of Excess deaths CEO Pay
2005 to 2012
Basildon and Thurrock 1,607 £150,000
Buckinghamshire 538 £155,000
Burton 700 £135,000
East Lancashire 655 £150,000
George Eliot 986 £140,000
Medway 711 £150,000
North Lincolnshire 954 £140,000
North Cumbria 672 £185,000
Sherwood Forest 819 £155,000
Tameside 833 £145,000
United Lincolnshire 1,531 £180,000
Colchester 724 £??
Dudley Group 1,235 £175,000
Blackpool 1,368 £170,000
Two figures missing from the above? Those of Andy Burnham and David Nicholson (sans knighthood) doing the decent thing and departing the scene.
Something else missing? The removal of the spending ring-fence for the NHS - Cameron and Osbourne take note - the NHS has to be about care not about how much is spent!
The report was commissioned by the UK Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health, following the publication of the Mid Staffordshire Public enquiry (see here. http://bit.ly/1222EJK). This earlier report followed what can only be described as inhuman treatment of patients at Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals. At the time, the Strategic Health Authority was led by Sir David Nicholson - now head of NHS England and the minister in charge was Andy Burnham, the emoting Merseyside MP who is currently Ed Miliband's shadow Health secretary.
So what did this report find?
Well, it looked at the 14 hospital trusts that had abnormally high mortality rates and its findings speak to a common problem across the NHS - that is, a provider-led service which is more concerned with it's own preservation and conditions than those of patients. The report found 'trust boards and management teams struggling to understand and deal with the complex issues of high mortality, particularly relating to urgent and emergency care'. Read that again! These 'leaders' were 'struggling' to handle the very things that they were put in place to deal with. These are senior medical 'professionals' not street sweepers or pint-pulling barmen. And yes, it is 'brain surgery' in some cases but they are supposed to know how to deal with this!
All but two of the trusts had what are called 'never events'. 'Never events' are 'serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents that should not occur if the available preventative measures have been implemented'. Especially concerning was that many of the trusts had multiple 'never events'. I read this to mean that the subsequent deaths were largely avoidable, or to put it another way, these people died because of the NHS
The report is, generally speaking, kind to the medical staff but hidden within are comments about junior doctors and nurses access to senior clinical staff being less than optimal. Also about poor coverage at weekends. To me this is code for 'those highly compensated consultants choose when they work, it is 9-5 and they only do Monday through Friday'.
There is talk of high rates of sickness absence and this having to be overcome by the use of agency nurses and locum doctors. Absence from work in the whole public sector is high and seems to be considered as yet another 'perk of the job'! So no real surprise there!
And what of the 'left' and it's Guardian and biased-BBC allies? Well, they have been somewhat quiet about this. They haven't called for any heads to roll - methinks that this because the only heads that should 'roll' are those of Burnham and Nicholson - and the greatest stick that the left-wing media commonly use to beat the Tories with,- lack of funding and local issues (as in underfunded local communities or 'send more taxpayer money') is completely discredited.
The report states: Factors that might have been expected - and are frequently claimed - to impact on high mortality rates, such as access to funding and the poor health of the local population, were found not to be statistically-correlated with the poor results of these trusts. The average for the 14 trusts is broadly the same as the England average in terms of funding and the socio-economic make-up of the populations they serve.
As you would expect, the Labour Party response is to accuse anyone that points out that this report is yet another damning indictment of their mis-handling of the NHS, of 'playing politics'. This is the same Labour Party that previously 'played politics' by saying that the NHS was safe in their hands and that the Tories would privatize the NHS. Readers of this blog will know of the many previous examples of hypocrisy of which Labour can be accused but this must rank among the highest ones. Labour's boast, through 13 years of mis-government was that only they could ensure that the NHS was adequately funded. They did this as, having found that a shovel wasn't big enough, they decided to employ a bull-dozer to push cash in the way of the NHS. And to what end result? People dying unnecessarily and in great pain and without a shred of dignity by the caring, sharing NHS!
At the root of it, that's the problem with Labour. Their solution to anything is to throw tax-payer money at it. Whatever the problem - more spending. Nothing cannot be cured with more government (as in tax-payer) money. The Labour Party hold-up the NHS as their greatest achievement - people dying unnecessarily - some achievement!!
Here are some snippets arising from the report.
Terry Day, a 35 year-old had been diagnosed with a low grade brain tumour. When he was admitted to Basildon and Thurrock Trust A&E 13 months later, staff failed to take the condition into account. No neurological assessments were carried out and his airways were not checked. When his tumour haemorrhaged, he went into cardiac and suffered brain damage. He died 20 days before his planned wedding.
The CEO of Basildon hospital received a £72,000 pay-off as compensation for loss of office. This came on top of the salary he received, of £150,000 in the period April to September 2012 and an additional, tax-free payment of £30,000. Oh and he had a pension pot of $1.7Million - that should give an annual pension of more than £85,000 a year, for the rest of his life.
Two operating theatres immediately shut down at North Cumbria University Hospital Trusts over hygiene concerns.
Trust Number of Excess deaths CEO Pay
2005 to 2012
Basildon and Thurrock 1,607 £150,000
Buckinghamshire 538 £155,000
Burton 700 £135,000
East Lancashire 655 £150,000
George Eliot 986 £140,000
Medway 711 £150,000
North Lincolnshire 954 £140,000
North Cumbria 672 £185,000
Sherwood Forest 819 £155,000
Tameside 833 £145,000
United Lincolnshire 1,531 £180,000
Colchester 724 £??
Dudley Group 1,235 £175,000
Blackpool 1,368 £170,000
Two figures missing from the above? Those of Andy Burnham and David Nicholson (sans knighthood) doing the decent thing and departing the scene.
Something else missing? The removal of the spending ring-fence for the NHS - Cameron and Osbourne take note - the NHS has to be about care not about how much is spent!
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