Great article on Reform. Deeply damaging that one of its founders is now one of David Cameron’s chief advisors on health – foxes in the chicken coop yet again. I did an article on Reform myself not too long ago – here’s a link in case you want more on this topic: http://skwawkbox.org/2013/01/04/tories-pose-as-independent-charity-to-push-for-nhs-privatisation/
Did you see last few days in the Torygraph newspaper that apparently the police are now investigating the ‘hundreds’ of midd Staffs death with a view to criminal prosecution.?
They feel under some obligation. I predict they will not find very much of interest to them. If they did, all police forces in the UK would have to look into any hospital with “excess deaths” in the same way. Since the concept of ” excess deaths” is derived from HSMRs – that’s by definition half the hospitals in the country, or probably more because the only ones you could exclude are those who have never been above 100 in the last 15 years.
Yes. And even in those hospitals that have never been over 100, there can still be avoidable deaths or deaths due to negligence. Even the best care isn’t perfect, and worldwide about 6% of deaths are thought to be ‘avoidable’, even though most would have died hours or days later. But it’s nonsense to ascribe blame for most.
Hundreds of people died at Mid Staffs during the period in question – and at every other hospital in the world. Investigating hundreds doesn’t mean there was fault in hundreds. The last police inspection concluded there were no cases to answer. Of course, this isn’t a perspective that the press want to present..