As soon as I heard this story I knew where it was going.
Police failed to investigate rape allegations, and persuaded complainants to drop their allegations.
""In total 19 officers from across London have been disciplined, including three who have been sacked."
The people who should be sacked are the ones who set and managed by targets for crime and detection rates.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21586786
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And another few hundred deaths 'buried' - Royal Bolton Hospital changes its coding of cause of death to improve mortality rates -
goo.gl/N39iR (Telegraph)
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The Police and now Hospitals is there any organisation where we still have trust in?
Didn't bank have targets paying themself more bonusses.
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manatee, Mrs May says that crime reduction is the only target yet she still publishes league tables for all 42 forces. So that's what drives the 'performance' culture. Trouble is, you know as well as I do that without measurement, people have nothing to aim for and detection rates plummet. As if they're anywhere as it is...
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It's certainly not easy, or it would have been done. Measurement I agree is essential, as it's the only way to know objectively what is going on.
It's the translation into, and managing by, targets for those measures where it all goes wrong (I'm not referring specifically to the police service of which I have no first hand knowledge, but I've seen plenty elsewhere).
The main problems are - always - neglect of essential and often obvious tasks that aren't measured or targeted, and massaging of the reporting.
Private Eye has done some great work reporting the mid Staffs enquiry, I can only assume the mainstream press neglects it in the main because the detail doesn't make for easy headlines.
From the Eye:
"Another way to reduce the mortality alerts is to change diagnosis. Patients come in with a fractured hip, and the longer the delay in operating, the more likely they will die, often from pneumonia. But if they have the pneumonia longer than the fractured hip, their primary diagnosis can be recorded as the former, and they vanish from the hip fracture mortality alerts.
Using this method, the number of people dying after fracturing their femur at Mid Staffs fell from 87% to 40%, even though the number of people dying didn't change.
This entirely legal recoding was overseen at Mid Staffs by Texan coder Sandra Haynes Kirkbright.
...
Haynes Kirkbright recalls meeting HMSR [Hospital Standardised Mortality ratios] guru Brian Jarman. "I said 'I think you're going to see a change in the HMSR' and he said 'Coding can't change the HMSR'. I went 'OK it can't.' But it totally can".
By 2009, a patient with a hip fracture was seemingly fives times less likely to die if admitted to Mid Staffs than to the average English hospital, and ...was seen as one of the five "most improved" trusts for HMSR reduction in the country. And it might have got away with it, had it not been for the pesky Healthcare Commission".
From the same article -
"In March 2007, the Dept of Health under Nicholson had relaxed the rules on palliative care coding, meaning any patient [with] an "incurable illness" could be given the palliative care code, rather than those genuinely at the end of life under a palliative car consultant. This had enabled a private coding company, CHKS, to go to Medway hospital in Kent and work wonders overnight by coding many patients as "expected to die" and therefore on the palliative care route.
Brian Jarman has shown that exactly the same happened one year later at the three trusts in the West Midlands - David Nicholson's old patch, including Mid Staffs, making it the largest hospice in the UK but without any of the compassion. And the mortality ratio had gone down to a much "healthier" level",
And another extract -
"Chris Turner, who worked in the emergency dept at Stafford...described it as...'an absolute disaster'. Staff were threatened ... that they would lose their jobs if they did not get patients through the department within the four-hour target, he claimed. The result was "Significant numbers of patients in distress, and, as a department, we were immune to the sound of pain".
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'Targets' have been the virtual ruination of the Police, along with wide scale civilianisation of posts and the loss of the 'can do' attitude by mostly untrained staff following SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures).
It seems other areas of employment have suffered the same i.e. the health service.
A 'manager' with no hands on experience of the roles they manage e.g. a health service manager who is not a doctor or nurse.. does not possess the full range of knowledge necessary to look at the bigger picture and properly prioritise...so they prioritise purely to their departments immediate needs e.g financial, rather than the bigger picture need e.g. patient health requirements.
In the Police, for example, they'd civilianise a police officer post..'because it's cheaper'...then 2 years later instead of one sergeant doing it, they've got an executive officer and an admin officer fulfilling the same role....if you roughly equated the sergeant to be on a £38K salary, the EO on £28K and AO on £22k....your own maths cam work that one out.
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Manatee, I agree it's an excellent article in PE - well worth reading in full. Some of the details of what went on (as revealed in the Francis Report) are very, very disturbing to say the least. There was also an excellent (IMHO) editorial in the Telegraph last week
www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/9900213/The-NHS-closes-ranks.html#dsq-comments
The last sentence is " Is no one to be held accountable for what happened? " and this is what I find is the most difficult thing to understand. 1200 "unnecessary deaths" and the NHS and Police don't leap into action?
OK, much of it happened a few years ago but it seems possible to investigate and bring to court various aspects of inappropriate behaviour by DJs that happened 40 years ago or pillory some fat old Lib Dem Peer who put his hand on a girls leg 10 years ago. (I''m not trying to belittle these events by the way, but compared to 1200 unnecessary deaths?) How come they can't investigate who was responsible for allowing old people to die after lying uncared for, covered in their own faeces, for days? Who was on duty? Who was the manager in charge? Did the hospital administrator ever have a walk round the wards?
And then they say that the bloke in overall charge is now "fundamental" to the reorganisation of the NHS because he knows what's wrong with it! No he doesn't - he hadn't a clue what was happening at Stafford; why would he have a clue now?
How can all responsible get away with 1200 unnecessary deaths? Imagine if an airport authority was so poorly run that a series of crashes over a few years resulted in 1200 unnecessary deaths........
Sorry for rant, I just find the whole thing incredible
P
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>>Sorry for rant, I just find the whole thing incredible
Me too. It takes unbelievably bad management to make people behave in such an uncaring way. If you were actually trying to do it you might not be so successful.
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And then they say that the bloke in overall charge is now "fundamental" to the reorganisation of the NHS because he knows what's wrong with it! No he doesn't - he hadn't a clue what was happening at Stafford; why would he have a clue now?
No no no NO. You are SO wrong.
He knows where all the bodies are buried - literally and figurateively - and has the lowdown on lots of politicians.
If he goes, lots of nasty stories to come.
So he stays..
Any suggestion that the NHS as an organisation exists to look after patients is misguided. It exists to give managers jobs without accountability.
See also Dept of Transport - West Line shambles.
DEFRA: F&M and swine flu and BSE.
And the Ministry for Injustice...
As for the Dept of Education.. any suggestion it exists to edukate children is a joke. It exists to increase pass rates.
You really have no idea how Government works :-)
Last edited by: madf on Sun 3 Mar 13 at 19:22
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"You really have no idea how Government works :-)"
That is a bit cruel!! ;-)
I think I do and that's why I am so angry!! ;-)
Even if this "Sir" (What on earth was the Sir for??) David Nicholson is sacked, you can be sure he gets a pay-off bigger than most of us have earned in a lifetime plus a huge pension. And he was in charge when 1200 old people were KILLED.
It's a damn good advert for Dignitas - " Would you, at the end of your life prefer a good painkiller, and then an injection to end it (in the company of loved ones if you wish). Or would you prefer to lie in your own faeces and pee for a few days, crying out in agony and being ignored before giving up in despair?
Nicholson is just like the ***** at the BBC involved in the Savile debacle - The big boss says he didn't know what was going on so retains his job, the Head of News is "sacked" and gets "Head of Current Events", the head of TV gets sacked and gets "Head of BBC Vision", Head of Newsnight gets sacked and given "Head of Late Night News" etc etc (I'm not being accurate but you know what I mean).
And then in Government we get Tim Yeo and Lord Deben (ie Gummer the child hamburger feeder) who both make hundreds of thousands a year from firms making money from "green energy" firms put in charge of the "Independent" (very funny) Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
It's all jobs for the boys and stuff the rest of you suckers (tax payers). "And no matter how much we make a complete mess of it you can be sure we will come out winners"
What about that so-and so David Laws - done for defrauding the taxpayer with regard to expenses - back in Government in some capacity? Should be in gaol. And so should many of the others. You can bet that if you or I pulled the same stunts as these thieving ***** we would be in gaol.
And don't get me started on subsidised restaurants and bars while recommending the rest of us should have a minimum price for alcohol and the fact that House of Commons is about the only place in the country you (they) could have a quick fag, a nice cigar or a peaceful smoke of a pipe!!
I've had a bad few weeks - sorry again for the rant - think I might go and have a little cigar and a glass of malt - at least it's warm enough to sit outside in the quiet of the garden!
P
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 6 Mar 13 at 01:12
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Mods, feel free to delete that post if you feel it necessary.
Bit too much of a rant, but not a good few weeks since New Years Eve - involved hospitals and a loved one!
P
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Why delete the post? I's a fair opinion, healthy to let off steam.
Hope things are better for family and hospital Phil.
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Don't worry Phil.
Sorry if my post wound you up... it was not meant to..
Just cool out..:-)
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'twasn't you madf !! ;-)
Feel better after rant, cigar and malt!!
Regards
P
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Truly excellent rant that Phil, don't ever apologise for speaking the truth straight as you see it, does the rest of us good to realise we're not alone shocked and bewlidered wondering how it could all have gone so wrong.
Every few days i'm bound to say to 'er indoors 'thats it i've heard it all now', before two days are up its a dead cert that more lunacy has appeared to trump the previous farce, its peoples lives and the devastated lives of their loved ones but those responsible just fiddle statistics without a care in the world save their precious careers, yet the more hoplessly inadequate they are they gain ever higher rewards from even more incompetent borderline criminals higher up the chain of ill repute.
The whole rotten system needs destroying from the top down and starting over.
Maybe Nige will get on the case when Cast Iron hands the key for number 10 over..:-)
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On a positive note I still feel comfortable living in the UK and problaby be buried here or burn to a cinder.>:)
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You could always feed the birds Dutchie: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial
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Why not Dog you come into this world with nothing and you should leave with nout.>)
The old man's ashes where spread over the Nort Sea a bit expensive.
Looking and the birds in my little garden the Starlings are feeding from the fatbals.Starlings supposed to be in decline I have seen plenty here they must like me,thinking ahead of having me for lunch.
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The favoured food on my bird feeder seems to be the half coconut shell filled with fat and seed.
The squirrels like it too though so I have to keep my eyes on em or the critters will eat the blimmin lot.
Bit of sunshine here today Dutchie - almost worth staying alive :)
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>> Bit of sunshine here today Dutchie - almost worth staying alive :)
>>
Do you know, I've seen a faint glimmer of brighter light, coming from roughly your direction. I thought it was you Cornish burning witches again...but maybe it is the sun trying its best..;-)
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Overcast here in Yorkshire we are getting there slowly could be another drought.
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Glories sunshine in Northants but cold breeze, about to take hound for a bit of exercise.
This seems to have been a long long winter, hardly stopped raining since last summer, looking forward to spring.
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We are all looking forward to some sunshine I must admit still a cold wind outside.I was going to have a go at cutting the lawn I leave it a bit longer grass is still wet.About twenty starlings feeding in the garden again gang of hooligans.
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Bout time we had some rain for the garden: www.bbc.co.uk/weather/pl3
:(
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Program on the telly the other day even fish have had to much rain .Farmland with chemicals draining into the rivers polluting fish.Weather forecasters are guessing Dog our climate is to unpredictable the weather girls are pretty do.>:)
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I wouldn't mind chilling out with some of those weather girls Dutchie ;)
The chemicals get into the water supply too, best to use a good water filter (or just drink ale)
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Got two water filters Dog one for the kettle and one for drinking water.I don't know if its snake oil but Diana thinks its best for me.Only drink a glass of wine now and a pint if we go anywhere.The chilling is over Dog they would laugh at us problaby help us across the road safely..;)
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>>The chilling is over Dog they would laugh at us problaby help us across the road safely..;)<<
You speak for yourself Ducky - I'm still up for it, I think.
:o)
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>> THIS is a water filter Dutchie:
>>
>> www.nutritioncentre.co.uk/p/2082/EVA-advanced-Water-Filtration-System-12-lt.html
>>
No it's not
"Thanks to its unique filtration process, the volcanic rocks on different levels of filtration, release a mineral complement rich in oligo-elements, ..."
Marketing speak for: we don't filter the water but add things to it...
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Interesting, they do do one without the mineral thingamajig.
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I use a jug type filter not because I think it makes the water taste better but because when I did the "tea bag" test it showed that filtered water made a glass of tea that was coloured like a fine whisky and tap water made something made something brown and cloudy. The filter was removing something, whatever it was.
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Sodium hypochlorite possibly. Chlorine not much used in the gaseous state in water treatment, in case it breaks free from tanks and connections and rolls down into town after knocking off the utility staff:)
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We use Britta filters for our drinking water, since using them the 2 monthly kettle descaling regime is now a 2 yearly affair and then its not really bad enough to worry about.
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Kettle descaling?
What dat?
Downside of soft water is lack of fluoride makes Jock juniors more susceptible to tooth decay.
Putting Irn Bru in their milk bottles doesn't help either.
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>> Kettle descaling?
>>
>> What dat?
>>
>> Downside of soft water is lack of fluoride makes Jock juniors more susceptible to tooth
>> decay.
>>
>> Putting Irn Bru in their milk bottles doesn't help either.
So'k, the fried food will do their tickers in, before the toofy pegs fall out.
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Nicholson was being quizzed just now by the health select committee on the Francis report on BBC Parliament.
Lots of stuff about 'being on a journey', 'challenges', 'lessons learned'. He does not accept that a 'culture of fear' can or did exist, if I understood him correctly, and gagging clauses are banned.
So that's alright then.
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Gagging clauses are banned but if you speak out you'll lose your job....
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More victims of targets - Manatee
