The nHS can take a lesson from the building trade ...

HOW do we stamp out abuse and neglect on NHS wards? The Health Service could learn a lot from the construction industry.

This week, property developer Mike Holland was given a ninemonth prison sentence for manslaughter following the death of carpenter Dave Clark on his construction site.

The Health & Safety executive had warned a year earlier that the site was unsafe, and Holland was charged as the person ultimately responsible for it.

This is the kind of approach we need for hospital managers. At present, the thing that scares them is not meeting targets, because they risk the hospital being penalised financially.

I have witnessed managers displaying chilling ruthlessness towards patients to avoid this.

But I guarantee that if senior managers were held ultimately responsible for what happened in their hospital, the culture in the NHS would change overnight.

Suddenly, people wouldn’t sit silently while patients unexpectedly died. They wouldn’t ignore patients being neglected or abused. Managers would descend on wards to check that patients were being fed.

They would ensure there were enough nurses, and that all staff were competent.

If someone was held personally accountable every time a patient developed a bedsore, for example, and the consequence was a fine or imprisonment, bedsores would soon become an historical anomaly.

Of course, targets should still be valued — but the one thing that trumps them should be what’s best for the patient. And the only way this can be achieved is if those at the very top of the hospital are scared.