Sunday Times: Labour hid NHS reports

The Sunday Times today accuses Labour of suppressing reports which reveal how the top-down target culture has failed to protect the best interests of patients.

The story alleges that

'DAMNING reports on the state of the National Health Service, suppressed by the government, reveal how patients’ needs have been neglected.

They diagnose a blind pursuit of political and managerial targets as the root cause of a string of hospital scandals that have cost thousands of lives.

The harsh verdict on the state of the NHS, after a spending splurge under Labour between 2000 and 2008, raises worrying questions about the future quality of the health service as budgets are squeezed.

One report, based on the advice of almost 200 top managers and doctors, says hospitals ignored basic hygiene to cram in patients to meet waiting-time targets.

It says “several interviewees” cited the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells [NHS Trust in Kent where 269 deaths during 2005-6 were caused by infection with Clostridium difficile bacteria].

“Managers crowded in patients in order to meet waiting-time targets and, in the process, lost sight of the fundamental hygiene requirements for infection prevention,” the report stated.'

You can read the full story here.

Comments

Jane said…
The Government's suppression of these damning reports comes as no surprise and is typical of a failed Government hiding its ineptitude. However this does not reduce the ability to shock, nor should it. It is ludicrous to go to the expense of commissioning reports and then not following them through.The ethos appears to be to only publish reports that are favourable. The refusal to publish the findings and recommendations has led to numerous deaths and much suffering amongst patients. The Government's deception is utterly immoral.

It only goes to show that the Conservatives are on the right track with their policy to cut bureaucracy and not the NHS. Whilst NHS spending has increased under Labour, it has been wasted by top slicing to create a grinding Kafkaesque system marked by its seemingly metaphysical absurdity. This is completely alienating to both patients and professional practitioners. All have become the slaves to a target driven system devoid of humanity. The solution is to return the NHS to the professionals and measure outcomes. Conservatives have got it right. The alternative is to re-elect a Labour Government that is literally killing this country.
2:02 pm
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