Patient care should be paramount

The capacity problems at Peterborough City Hospital throw into very sharp relief the issue of NHS accountability and public transparency which will be debated in the Commons this week.

We have a great local hospital but we must guard against complacency.

It has been a month since the final report on the failures of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust was published and I believe that the future of the Chief Executive of the NHS, Sir David Nicholson ( pictured), hangs in the balance.

There is something seriously wrong when the man who oversaw some of the worst neglect ever recorded in the NHS is allowed to effectively say ‘ sorry’ for the actions not taken in Mid Staffordshire and retain his cur- rent position as NHS chief executive.

Some argue that as long as Nicholson remains, the public will have no trust in the system in its present form.

The Francis report stated there was failure at every level that led to the needless deaths of thousands of patients. This was caused by a failure of management, a failure of regulation and overall a huge failure of care and trust.

Sir David Nicholson, former head of West Midlands Strategic Health Authority in 2005, appeared before the Health Select Committee and gave evidence about his role in the trust. Nicholson

stated hewas‘ absolutely’ part of the culture which led to failures in Mid Staffordshire, so how can he hold his hand up and say he was involved yet not be truly held accountable for the failures by resigning from his post?

The mai n problem t hat has been highlighted in this caseisthetarget culture within NHS management.

They fo-cused on hitting financial targets and perverse political pledges instead of i mproving the quality of care. Surely, the importance of patient care should have been par amount?

But Nicholson said that he was not made aware of key

“Wemusttrust the public with the full

truth about the failure as well as the success of the NHS. In doing so wecan avoid further

tragedies”

mortality data which displays a fundamental failing on his part since hospitals are judged on these important figures. More importantly, there have been suggestions the trust skewed figures by reclassifying deaths as palliative care, essentially hiding the provision of poor care.

The original report suggested, quite rightly, that to cause death or harm to a patient by non- compliance should be a criminal offence.

Neglect i s unacceptable and this is true for both doctors and nurses treating patients and the hospital management since they have essentially neglected the hospital they ran.

We must trust the public with the full truth about the failure as well as the success of the NHS.

In so doing we can avoid further tragedies.

Peterborough’s MP writes his regular column for the Peterborough Telegraph