Professor Rod Griffiths Would Call A Crash Team To Ask for A Drip Set

It is always amazing that a simple drip set becomes a massive political issue. Who would ever know that a simple lack of a drip set [ which could have been corrected by giving me the dripset] would end up being a controversial issue. I suspect it is a controversial issue because it is unheard of for a first world country like the UK to have no basic equipment on their wards. Actually, in India and Africa there would have been a drip set somewhere! The question of its unavailability of became such an issue that millions of sheets of paper, money and time on various solicitors part was spent lying about it. From 1998, there must have been more than 100 or more NHS staff, workers, Department of Health lawyers who spent their time running away from the issue of a simple question " Why did the ward not have basic equipment". In the last 10 years, no one has been able to respond to this simple and basic question.

The most important selection of slimy behaviour came from Professor Rod Griffiths and his two solicitors at the Department of Health during his submissions to my complaint at the GMC. The GMC wriggles quite badly when any of us mention Professor Griffiths. That's because Professor Griffiths was Director of Public Health in the Midlands with a office near Boss Hogg formally known as Professor Temple. He was also on the GMC's payroll. A few years ago, I complained about a few things. The case examiners screened this out without reading the data. I then appealed to the President under Rule 12. At that time, the Department of Health lawyers attempted their usual squealing tactics. Letters flew back and forth to the General Medical Council. I beat them all and won the Presidential Review. The complaint when down the procedures again. The case examiners admitted to Griffiths' failings but felt there was no issue Serious Professional Misconduct. It then went back to Rule 12 Review again and was thrown out. Following further evidence, it is back at Rule 12. If anyone has ever watched children play in playground, this is what it is like playing with authorities like the GMC, DOH and the Trust. They behave like little bullies when they all collectively say " No, you are not having the full report Rita". The GMC are though aware that this issue isn't disappearing fast and they will have to deal with it one day. During the legal threats to judicially review the incident, the GMC instigated a complaint against me and had me fired. This is exactly the same behaviour that was done in 2004. All complaints were subsequently dropped by the GMC.

During Professor Griffith's submissions he lied and suggested to the GMC that I should have called the crash team if I didn't have a drip set. I made a FOI request. Unknown to North Staffordshire NHS Trust, they both fell head first. North Staffordshire NHS Trust admitted in writing "Currently the majority of Trust doctors don’t routinely wear white coats and are not required to carry any therapeutic items with them. There has always been a checklist for the resuscitation trolley and that would always include fluids and administration sets"

No one on the cardiac arrest team carries a "drip set in their pockets

Professor Griffiths had no where to go following this statement as he had been caught lying to the General Medical Council. He pointed out that the CBE meant that he was "Honest". The good thing about having a CBE is that the GMC forgives them especially if the liar is an employer of theirs. We also know he was dishonest in his dealings at the Griffiths Inquiry related to David Southall's work. Griffiths though is a hot potato head. On one hand the GMC wants to appease the public by their new found movie showcase called the Henshall Hearing. They also want to string Southall up from the highest spire. On the other hand, they would like to close the lid on Professor Griffith's compulsive lying habits. Professor Griffiths though know that all his solicitors and he lied about many issues related to Ward 87. He also knows that he cannot sue me in libel because what I have said is true. I am surprised the Queen gives him a CBE. As Director of Public Health he paid no attention to patient deaths and effectively was responsible for the deaths on Ward 87. He may slime out of it with all his big fat contacts in the General Medical Council and his case examiner friends. He may also slime out of his responsibilities as the Department of Health civil servants.

Professor Rod Griffiths though cannot ever get away from the truth. In fact, it is the truth that stands right there haunting him despite his cloud of lies that has obscured the issues of Ward 87. This is what we call the " puffer fish" effect. It is of course the truth that matters in the court of public opinion. So a simple drip set became quite complex for Professor Griffiths. He wriggled out of all procedures because he has a CBE and I don't. In any event, he knows how many people died and the lengths he went to, to cover up for his friend David Fillingham, the Ex Chief Executive of North Staffordshire NHS Trust. The GMC amusingly went through great lengths to keep the unredacted copy of the 2001 Report from me. We will discuss that particular game in the future. I affectionately term it " Pass the Parcel". When you are playing this sort of game with bullies, it becomes a little boring. Nevertheless, if they want to play, the least we can do in the public court of opinion is to observe their antics and amuse ourselves. Dishonest people play games. In this case, these are advanced games designed to tire me out, to make me give up. Thats all well and good but in the end I believe the public has to see the lack of accountability in the UK's system.

I received a kind email from a former nurse. I certainly appreciated her words.

Dear Dr Pal

First may I apologise to you for not responding sooner.

As a former night sister responsible for the night supervision of a busy District General Hospital as well as having to work in A and E and later in my career as a senior nurse in Occupational Health I feel that this may qualify me to speak with some authority on the following matter that I find quite bizarre.

This concerns the occasion when you found that there was not a giving set on a ward and had to borrow one .

PROFESSOR GRIFFITHS.

I would like to reinforce that it is not appropriate to call the crash team out unless it is for a cardiac or respiratory arrest. I was particularly concerned at what I can only describe as the utterly unfair and if I may say so the vicious comments and allegations brought against you by a person who should know better. I am referring to Professor Griffiths who I understand is or was a Director of Public Health.As such he is obviously not immediately involved with acute hospital critical care. This raises the question as to why he is allowed to voice his opinion on the matter. I am struggling to understand what gives Professor Griffiths the authority to pass judgment on yourself a doctor out in the field so to speak having to deal with an acute situation with little or no back up from what appears to me to be a lax management structure.
After all depending on Professor Griffiths age or when he qualified it must be yonks since he resuscitated a patient! So how can he speak about the purpose of the crash team and when they should be called out?

Dr Pal I feel that you need some one to reinforce what you as a competent and ethical doctor already know but what no one is bothering to listen to.

Personally I find this totally unacceptable and unpalatable. However this has happened in so many cases where you have a competent person under the direction of an incompetent one or an incompetent or inefficient management. However even so I am extremely disgusted at Professor Griffiths and wonder just how much he has been put up to berating you for his own private reasons!I would be highly incensed at being so unfairly and unjustly criticised. Despite what Professor Griffiths said or wrote or any member of the GMC said whether it be a screener or a clerical worker that in the opinion of those that know what they are talking about there can be no doubt that you did act correctly and professionally and therefore you can hold your head up high . The GMC had no right to put you through all this because you were trying to protect patients. This Organisation should have supported you throughout but instead they let you down! It is preposterous, insulting and a defamation of your good character for the GMC to dare to suggest that because you decided to defend yourself with determination and vigour against a hospital as well as the GMC that you must by very definition be suffering from a mental illness.

What did these people expect you to do? Lie down quietly whilst they walked all over you!
I don't think so. The days when men ruled OK in medicine and bullied the few female drs as well as try to bully nursing staff are well and truly over-at least that is the theory anyway!
Why should you break down in tears and grovel for mercy from these bullies! Why should you prostitute your dignity and self respect to boost the ego of these chauvinistic pigs?I know that I would not so why should I expect anyone else to?

No you did the appropriate thing. You faced your attackers with courage and with dignity head on. You had to face them head on you did not have a choice as they would have crushed you physically and spiritually otherwise. If the hospital or GMC did not like the way you defended yourself then they shouldn't have started it! You are entitled to defend yourself against these unfounded and vindictive allegations just like the next person and that is all that you have done. You defended yourself in the correct and proper manner.

I feel that this is more than can be said for what is in my opinion the highly unethical and unprofessional manner in which Professor Griffiths has berated and attempted to demoralise you in his futile attempts to cover up the inadequacies of the management you were unfortunate enough to work for. In my opinion if Professor Griffiths had anything about him he should be advising management that they were completely in the wrong and offering his profound apologies to you for defaming you. Furthermore he should be telling Management what everybody else is saying that is that Management should ensure that the wards are sufficiently equipped and not expect medical staff to run errands from ward to ward trying to locate items of equipment!

There can be no excuse whatsoever for the ward not having an Intravenous giving set!
No excuse whatsoever!

To call the crash team as Professor Griffiths is so strongly recommending that you should have done albeit he is not even in the critical care situation himself is a complete and utter nonsense .In my opinion what he has said is simply a red herring and a distraction to take the limelight off the inadequacies of the weak and inefficient management of the hospital and to try to make you as you were at that time a junior doctor the scapegoat for these lax managers and to get them off the hook for their incompetencies and inefficiencies!

Given my experience of hospitals and their politics etc the irony is that that had you taken Professor Griffiths advice had be been on hand to provide it at the time then not only would you have had disciplinary action taken against you but you would have been the laughing stock of the hospital.

You would have been unable to command any respect wherever you went. You would have lost the trust and confidence of the Public/Patients in the medical profession as a whole and also in the hospital.

As you know news spreads fast around a hospital!


Professor Griffiths as an experienced doctor knows full well the consequences of him siding with management against a doctor. He knows full well that in running you down as expected of him by management that he is saving the reputation of a few managers who can move on if necessary to cause harm elsewhere and that he ruins the happiness and career of a good doctor. It is because of these known consquences that I personally find his conduct despicable and I wonder why he is still allowed to practice as a doctor after failing to support a doctor who was facing a hellish situation.

Just to reiterate for the benefit of anyone you may care to show this e mail to as you have my full permission to do so.

Anybody who has worked in hospital as a dr or nurse knows full well that the Crash team is ONLY called out in case of CARDIAC and/OR RESPIRATORY ARREST.

As neither of these conditions existed then it would have been highly inappropriate to call them out.

One does not recklessly and irresponsibly call upon the crash team as they may be required elsewhere in the hospital.

It is like calling out the Fire Engine unnecessarily whilst someone is trapped in a house/building elsewhere and tying up all available fire engines!

In fact the Management may be liable for the charge of Potential or Corporate Manslaughter for not having adequate supplies/numbers of equipment on the ward in a situation where a crash team is called out irresponsibly and yied up whislst a collapsed patient requires advanced resuscitation techniques!

It is easy for Professor Griffith to be wise after the event and to pompously declare that you should have notified the 'crash' team who would have had an intravenous giving set.

As I stated previously the point of the matter is that had you notified the crash team in order to obtain a giving set that you would have been hauled over the coals and would also have been the laughing stock of the hospital. The reason for this being as you because even if the crash team did carry a giving set it was still totally inappropriate to call them out because as you have stated over and over again yet no one appears to be listening to you the crash team is there in case of cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. Re the 'complaint' re the link and the so called breach of confidentiality.

It beggars belief that the General Medical Council can squander time and money on hounding and harassing you and depriving you of your livelihood and depriving patients of the attentions of a good doctor whilst letting drs who set out to deliberately harm patients off the hook. The hospital managers who fired you on such ridiculous and flimsy grounds leave a lot to be desired as well. No guts, no backbone, no courage to stand up.

JH