Government Ministers
Alan
Milburn
John Reid
In view of the public pronouncements by Sir Nigel Crisp, that the NHS supports and encourages "Whistle-blowers" and the fact that I found that in reality if you are a real "Whistle-blower" you are completely on your own and given no help by the NHS at all I thought in May 2003 I would write to the Secretary of State for Health Alan Milburn to bring to his attention what had happened at St George's and raise with him the other issues that I felt warranted an independent investigation. The result was typical of the response that I received from every level of the NHS with whom I corresponded, Milburn simply ignored the letter and never replied to it, or even acknowledged it. So much for an honest, open and accountable NHS!!! That I should not have received a reply from Alan Milburn was probably entirely expected. After all Milburn had the distinction of being the first cabinet member to be summoned to appear before parliament to explain the failure of his ministry to answer questions from MP's, so what chance did I have of getting a reply to my questions? This failure to answer questions was fully reported in the Guardian in July 2002.
With Milburn's resignation I felt it would be appropriate to write to his successor John Reid so I sent a second letter, this time by recorded delivery to make sure it reached the Secretary of States office. I have received proof of delivery from the post office that the letter was delivered, but once again I have not received as much as an acknowledgement Dr Reid's office. Over thirty years of working in the public sector, the last twelve as Finance Director of one of the country's largest NHS Hospital Trust's clearly does not even warrant a polite reply. Finally I received a letter from Nicolas Garcia of the Department of Health Customer Services Centre dated 2nd December which stated it was a reply to my letter to Dr Reid. Did the reply say the Secretary of State for Health had acceded to my request for an independent investigation into what had happened at St George's? No it did not! Quite amazingly it states that my correspondence has been passed on to St George's the very organisation where the "fiddling of the figures" took place. Is this action compatible with Government statements that they will not tolerate the manipulation of targets within the NHS. I leave you to come to your own conclusions.
The other issue I have been told that made me unpopular with ministers was when I spoke out at the London NHS Directors of Finance conference held at Westminster in July 2002, when I explained why the Government's plans for funding the NHS and in particular, Foundation Hospitals the central plank in current government thinking was basically unsound. The remarks that I made then are still relevant today and if you want to know why the Government's plans will in my opinion not work click here.
I replied to Nicolas Garcia's letter on the 4th December pointing out pointing out that it was unreasonable not to have an independent inquiry into the substantial written evidence that I can provide to substantiate the fact that waiting list targets have been manipulated. However, this has clearly had no impact at all on Ministers determined to keep any investigation "In House", as the further letter I received from Nicolas Carcia dated 17th December makes crystal clear, John Reid, John Hutton and Sir Nigel Crisp are only prepared to allow me to submit evidence to David Sissling the Chief Executive of the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority. Surely given the view of managers in the service, as evidenced by the Jon Sudworth's BBC Television report, and the BBC website report , that in achieving government targets, bullying and intimidation within the NHS is widespread with the pressure coming from the top level. Having an inquiry chaired by an independent QC is the only way the public can be truly reassured that the reporting of clinical activity against government targets is being conducted with honesty and integrity. I am sure you can draw your own conclusions as to why Ministers and Sir Nigel Crisp are so determined that despite the mass of evidence that there is a problem, they will not allow an independent inquiry to take place and are anxious that the only review that takes place is internal to the NHS thereby ensuring that they can control the publication of its findings.