North Staffordshire NHS Trust Lies to the Police About Ward 87 Death Rate.

Internal Discussions Regarding the Lack of Mortality Statistics

The important aspect about Ward 87 is the fact that its death rate was never recorded. The emails below stipulated that "The Information is not routinely recorded"

So, why am I talking about this issue 10 years down the line? Well, death rate is important. It tells us whether there are any particular problems in a ward. Death rate is also known as Mortality Rate. Anyone who has done statistics knows the calculation. That is everyone apart from the Trust minions at North Staffordshire NHS Trust who cleverly hoodwinked the police when they attended a few years ago. Ken Raper, a senior officer is of the view that he believes in justice. Ken Raper, a senior police officer cannot tell when a Trust is pulling the wool over his eyes. Perhaps Ken simply wants the wool pulled over his eyes. Afterall, he does not have to investigate what he ignores. It was similar to Staffordshire Police's contact with the Trust some years ago. They rang the Trust up and stated " Are there any problems with patient care". The Trust responded " No". The Police said " Ok, let us know if there are any problems". It is a bit like the police asking a criminal to report his crimes. The precedent here in any investigation of corporate manslaughter is this - the hospital can make up any statistics, the police will never check it and will believe it completely. In their view, Trusts never lie :). Of course, North Staffordshire NHS Trust didn't only harbour a terrorist in their heyday but continuously lie.

The first time I met Mr Raper was at a small town likened to Midsummer Murders. Raper never had any intention of investigating. He had every intention of charming his way out of a inconvenient situation and providing the cup of sympathy for the plight of whistleblower. Raper though is clever. He crowed away about how they were the best police force in town. Of course, this wonderful police force had no idea about death rate or how it was calculated. They neither checked the figures nor did they bother about whether it was accurate or not. So, while he was being clever, I faced him with the Statistics question. There was that blank look that the police give you until they shove you out of the room :).

Raper was told by Staffordshire Police to keep a lid on this issue. He did that almost charmingly. The death he refused to consider is currently being considered by other parties :). Anyway, I felt it was entertaining to feature the internal discussions at the Trust about their failure to keep death rates regarding the ward. Was it because people died like flies and no one kept a track?

Of course, death rates are important. Calculating the right death rates with the right formulae is also important. Neither the Police or the Trust did this. I say this of course because Ward 87 is just one ward. It is not compulsory to record the death rate of patients nationwide. So the broad spectrum outlook on this issue is this - if it is not recorded, there is no way of detecting poor levels of care for improvement, moreover there is no way of detecting the next Harold Shipman. So mortality statistics is another concept omitted by the Shipman Inquiry.

Essentially, in this case, Ken Raper never sought a medical opinion, he never sought a statistics opinion, he never sought to interview relevant people and he never sought to obtain the internal documents within the Trust. He based his decision on a half baked redacted copy :). I obtained most of it through the Information Commissioner after my meeting with Ken Raper. Ken Raper and Staffordshire Police failed to do so. That of course is the standard of the police today. To complete matters, I reported these issues to his Chief Constable. Of course, his Chief Constable was so embarassed that he hid under his table and still has not mustered up the courage to respond - probably because he cannot find his pen after 2 years. So, for all those who do visit Staffordshire Police, just remember, do be ready for the Keystone Cops.

As I explained to Raper before I left, this is on his conscience because I discharged my responsibility in 1998. The fact that thousands died unnecessarily due to corporate manslaughter is irrelevant to Mr Raper :). As I drove back from our last meeting, I had hoped that when he is an elderly man in his eighties, he is placed in a ward like Ward 87 and left to lie in his urine, left to be infected with MRSA and he may meet the same fate as many patients on Ward 87. And when he dies, no one will care just like the destinity of those on Ward 87. I am of course a great believer in karma and a good observer of human behaviour. I also know the difference between death rate and simply writing down "numbers". The detectives clearly failed to spot the difference :).

GMC REFUSES TO WEAR THE BACONETTE SUIT

The CEO of iwantgreatcon.org in his new suit

Jobbing Doctor is far more intelligent and dishier than Neil Bacon. Everyone knows that. So Jobbing Doctor wrote about the iwantgreatcare meltdown some days ago.

The journalists at Pulse uncovered some excellent documentation. Essentially, Pulse points out that the GMC told Neil Bacon off. I have to say that the GMC paid an inordinate amount of interest to our meltdown of Neil's thoughtless terms and conditions. Essentially, Neil misleads the rest of the world. He even misleads the world on other aspects.

Technically, the GMC should have taken Neil Bacon down the GMC steps but being good mates, Finlay decided to just write to Neil.

Pulse stated :-

The GMC’s chief executive, Finlay Scott, wrote to Dr Neil Bacon, the website’s founder, shortly after its launch, requesting amendments to the site.

‘In the guidance to doctors section, it is suggested that feedback facilitated by the site will help doctors meet ‘GMC requirements for revalidation’,’ wrote Mr Scott. ‘As it stands, I think this is potentially misleading and it would helpful if you would arrange for early and appropriate modification of the relevant text.’

A GMC staff member later reported that all mention of the GMC had been removed from the site, although he warned: ‘It is possible that a canny journalist or doctor will spot these modifications and suspect some kind of intervention on our part.’

In an email to a colleague in external relations in early July, he said he agreed with a complaint received from a doctor.

‘To be honest, I agree with [Name removed],’ he wrote. ‘The site was indeed untested and as such perhaps we shouldn’t have promoted it, but this was a piece that Graeme ‘offered’.’

So let us observe the guidance on dishonesty at the GMC. This is what it states

Dishonesty

43. The GMC's guidance, Good Medical Practice states that registered doctors must be honest and trustworthy, and must avoid abusing their position as a doctor. It also states, under the heading of ‘probity':

“- You must be honest in financial and commercial dealings with employers, insurers and other organisations or individuals…

- …If you manage finances, you must make sure that the funds are used for the purpose for which they are intended and are kept in a separate account from your personal finances.” (Paragraph 54).

44. Dishonesty, even where it does not result in direct harm to patients but is for example related to the doctor's private life, is particularly serious because it undermines the trust the public place in the profession. Examples of dishonesty in professional practice could include defrauding an employer, improperly amending patient records or submitting or providing false references, inaccurate or misleading information on a CV and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure that statements made in formal documents are accurate. The Privy Council has emphasised that: ‘…Health Authorities must be able to place complete reliance on the integrity of practitioners; and the Committee is entitled to regard conduct which undermines that confidence as calculated to reflect on the standards and reputation of the profession as a whole.' 12 [Footnote 12: Dr Shiv Prasad Dey v General Medical Council (Privy Council Appeal No. 19 of 2001).]

45. Research misconduct is a further example. The term is used to describe a range of misconduct from presenting misleading information in publications to dishonesty in clinical drugs trials. Such behaviour undermines the trust that both the public and the profession have in medicine as a science, regardless of whether this leads to direct harm to patients. Because it has the potential to have far reaching consequences, this type of dishonesty is particularly serious.

Finlay Scott is essentially telling the world that a doctor like Neil Bacon can be misleading to the public and he simply gets a " Hi Neil, Can you Correct these slight errors please and we can forgive you".

It is important to understand that Neil Bacon is treated unlike any other doctor. Any other person propagating purportedly misleading information is taken down the GMC steps. In fact, golden balls Bacon seems to be immune to any such investigation at all. That is because Neil Bacon has a special pink suit that protects him from any GMC investigation. The rest of us though have had to go through many GMC investigations courtesy of Neil Bacon and his influence at the GMC. Brian Keighley, the resident Doctors Only Website sniffer dog - take a bow.

Lack of Evidence. Dr Shirine Boardman

More than one person raised the issue

This is the article where Dr Shirine Boardman was supposed to have whistleblown in.

It said

"Diabetes patients and consultants at Warwick Hospital are calling on the county's health authority to improve services. Members of the South Warwickshire Diabetes UK support group have written to Warwickshire Primary Care Trust asking for a public consultation. They are unhappy with the way the service is run and want more involvement to ensure patients’ needs are met"

1. There is no documentary evidence bar one patient that stipulates the extent of poor diabetic care. If it exists, then no one is presenting it.

2. The Courier placed on story upon another and came up with this

3. There is no evidence regarding the reasons she was dismissed.

4. There is no documentary evidence about the outline of her appeal.

5. Dr Shrine Boardman plus other doctors were involved in the article listed above. No other doctor was sacked.

6. Why was Dr Boardman singled out in a dismissal? Why not the other doctors?

My fellow bloggers have supported her wholeheartedly. Dr Grumble made his view known. This case has no turned into a whistleblowing case courtesy of the imagination of the newspapers creative word fixing and the bloggers imagination.

Now, if a story leaked out about any other doctor - without the relevant reports or documentation, no one would back it. It makes no sense that the Trust is not harassing the other doctors responsible for raising concerns. If it was indeed "whistleblowing" then we would have logically seen the Trust act against every one of them.

So my question is this - what has Shirine Boardman done? Can Shirine Boardman tell us? Without transparency, it is impossible to take sides. Totally and utterly impossible. It would be all of us jumping into the same boat of interpretation as the local paper. Was it a story spin or was it actually how it was? I do though think it takes a lot for a Trust to dismiss a doctor because they know legal action will be pending.

So I went to Diabetes UK, the support group that was supported by all these doctors. This is what it says

An additional campaign

We are campaigning for pressure to be placed on Warwickshire PCT for an improvement in diabetes services in the county.

We are calling for a public consultation so that the views of people with diabetes, or their carers, can be heard and to let the authorities know that current services are not in line with Government health and communities policy.

Interested persons are being circularised urging them to write to the PCT putting forward pertinent questions such as:

• What is the PCT's vision for implementing the National Service Framework for Diabetes?
• Can the PCT provide a breakdown on their diabetes budget and how such monies are spent?
• What are the PCT's plans for developing better integrated specialist diabetes services in the community?
• What are the PCT's plans for implementing NICE guidance on structured education for newly diagnosed patients published 2 years ago? (Note: our local voluntary group have funded the cost of 2 sets of educational tools (£5,000) but courses have recently been scrapped)
• What are the PCT's plans for ensuring there is clinical governance and staff are trained and updated to provide best care?
• What are the PCT's plans for involving patients in decision making and being accountable to those patients?
• What are the PCT's plans for involving patients with diabetes on an ongoing basis to provide feedback on the services?

All seems rather tame to me. Nothing that warrants a dismissal.

Doesn't seem logical that the two are related. They may possibly be related or the two instances
[her campaign and dismissal] may be independent of each other. While the Dr Scot had undercover information floating this direction and others, Shirine Boardman keeps her cards to herself.

At present, I would not stick my neck out and shout out loud about the dismissal being due to the above issue. The story doesn't fit together properly. Without further evidence, we are essentially stuck on this story.

Concealment of Death Rates to Obtain University Status

Not long ago Professor Gillian Needham was visitor to Keele University Medical School.

Lets get a few matters straight here, in 1998 a number of senior consultants including Professor Temple [ ex Dean of West Midlands Deanery] were making an application to ensure that North Staffordshire NHS Trust succeeded in being accepted as "University status". In 1998, all the applications were going through RE University status. The question we ask here is this, how many of the patient deaths did they cover up to reach this status? Which hospital which has a poor record of junior doctor supervision, a poor record of patient observation, a lack of equipment manages to get University status?

I know Professor Rod Griffiths in collusion with Professor Temple and the clinicians at North Staffordshire NHS Trust to ensure that I was effectively " put away" so their plans could come into fruition. Their plan was important. Their plan was to side line and discredit a whistleblower so they were able to successfully reach University status. This was a known issue. This is also the reason why every independent inquiry was shut down around Ward 87. Ironically, the doctor responsible for the mismanagement of Ward 87 - Monica Spitieri is probably teaching at the University :). Such is the justice meted out by North Staffordshire NHS Trust on those who walk on blindly while patients die.

This was an email I wrote to Gillian Needham about her "blind eyed" view to Keele University Medical School. We need to understand one issue here, multiple clinicians lied to the General Medical Council about Ward 87. They withheld the Dr Creamer report from the GMC. They told the GMC that "all had been corrected" and that the "problems were minor". Having done so, Keele University Medical School continues to exist starry eyed. North Staffordshire NHS Trust would never have obtained university status. They know it, we all know it.

With the new University status comes multimillion funds :).

People Involved.

1. Dr Colin Campbell [ Department of Paediatrics]
2. Dr John Green [ Department of Medicine]
3. Professor Elder [ Department of Surgery]
4. Professor Monica Spitieri [ Respiratory Medicine]
5. Professor John Temple
6. David Fillingham Chief Executive
7. Mills and Reeve Law Firm [ because their advice is often so awful - we call them Mills and Boon]
8. Professor Rod Griffiths.

----- Original Message -----
From: Rita Pal
To: Gillian Needham
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Prof Needham

Many thanks for that. Of course, the status of xxxxx isn't going to remain a secret forever. I believe we both know that.

Anyhow, I was more interested in your views of Keele Medical School

What do you know about the involvement of North Staffordshire NHS Trust in the creation of this medical school. Moreover, during its creation there were substantial problems at the Trust in 1998 onwards.

A March 2002 report by the Commission of Health Improvement of a Clinical Governance Review at North Staffordshire NHS Trust found serious shortcomings in the supervision of junior doctors,

"CHI was informed that junior doctors working in medicine were often inadequately supervised and often left alone on wards, particularly on the medical assessment unit (MAU). During an evening visit we found only two junior doctors covering MAU, which was full to capacity, with a further junior doctor covering MAU and emergency admissions; one junior doctor covered the medical wards and one covered medical outliers but these patients could be on wards on either site. CHI felt this situation posed a potential clinical risk to patients.”

3. The 2002 report went on to say, in Paragraph 5.78:

"There were a number of concerns raised regarding support and supervision for junior doctors working in medicine. We were told of a number of occasions when it was felt there was a lack of support both during the day and when problems arise whilst oncall. The Trust has acknowledged that medical staffing at all levels is under resourced in medicine".

Were these problems addressed during the involvement of North Staffordshire NHS Trust in the creation of Keele University Medical School.

Perhaps you would also be kind enough to outline the process/procedure whereby a hospital is accepted and given University status. I am unclear of this procedure.

Many thanks

Dr Rita Pal

NB You should reinstate xxxxx so that NHS Highland can get back to normal business. I don't think a principle is really worth causing the entire Trust and its staff to be undermined via the internet [ of course, the internet does make a difference - you simply have to observe the case of Prof David Southall to understand how much difference it makes].

Fictional Injustice

Rallying Around the Consultants.

I have come to one view over the last few weeks, this website is not going to feature consultant whistleblowers. I have decided on this because quite frankly, I am sick and tired of the same pattern of cases. These consultants often moan and groan and then demand the entire profession to back them. Of course, they do back them - because seniors back seniors. They all sit around and moan about how much they have lost.

My fellow bloggers are off to feature Dr Shrine Boardman. I am going to reverse the tide and not feature the case probably because I know that junior whistleblowers get little or no support at all. Hark lets see - did anyone criticise the management at North Staffordshire NHS Trust? Of course, not. Why should they? Why should bloggers even dare to criticise North Staffordshire NHS Trust? Afterall, surely there must be less evidence here than there is with Dr Shrine Boardman. Surely!? Actually, no - lets look at it again - ah, there is a report backing the whistleblowing concerns on Ward 87 - but wait, that's not as much as Dr Shrine Boardman is it? To the bloggers - of course it isn't. You see - it is because consultants don't require that sort of evidence - not concrete written reports anyway. Their word is enough :). Actually, lets face it, one short flimsy local newspaper report is enough.

So guess what, I am going to fight the corner of the junior whistleblower - probably because I am one and that is all I know about. The seniors have their clubby little colleagues and their mates to rally around them. Essentially, they all drink tea and moan about how their career has ended. Loss is of course subjective. I think consultant whistleblowers have much to be grateful for - one of them is the ability to have progressed to that stage - which is more opportunity than any junior doctor gets.

So, if you want to read the concerted campaign for Dr Boardman - go read

1. The Jobbing Doctor
2. Dr Rant
3. Dr Grumble

In the meantime, I am going to talk about death rates on Ward 87 and the concealment of same. In fact, I am going to hold the management of North Stafordshire NHS Trust accountable via this blog. In my view, it is probably better to raise the issue of the high death rate of patients than the plight of one doctor. And pray why should the failure to record death rates on any ward in the NHS be relevant?

I think the BMA can fight Dr Boardman's case for her - because that is what they do - fight cases of consultants. How quaint. While we are at it, I have never known any consultant whistleblower [apart from Steve Bolsin] to have done anything useful with their experiences other than wallow in their own cases and their own agendas. Perhaps I am just a cynic - but there is more things to life than claiming damages for getting depressed. So, I hope the other bloggers will excuse me from breaking out of the fold. Never been a team player and not interested in fictional injustices. I have bigger battles to fight - one of them is against the GMC - guess what - to protect doctors from vexatious complaints. Of course, that wouldn't make an ounce of difference for those who wallow in a doctors only web site blind to the environment around them.

Will the Real Dead Patients on Ward 87 Stand Up.

Ward 87. Dead and Gone

I was sent a link to the BBC Video featured by Midlands Today.

An amusing video for many reasons. First it features Ward 87 in all its glory. You feel like saying to the editors of Midlands Today - hey - you have the wrong scandal guys- how about the hundreds of adult and elderly patients who died there on the acute ward?

The distorted video is interesting because it fails to mention the fact that the Attorney General cleared David Southall and the GMC have cleared David Southall not once but twice. Lets take a look at the list of inquiries instigated against David Southall. He has been cleared in all of them. bar one GMC appeal. I say this because I often compare this to the high death rate of Ward 87 during the period I whistleblew. No funds or inquiries were invested in that despite the findings of a final report on minority data which stipulated that the ward management was at fault.

So let us see the millions the government, the NHS and the GMC have spent on David Southall. Lets get another thing straight - David Southall was not responsible for hundreds of deaths. So, while these inquiries took place against him [ in paediatrics], in the Department of Medicine, Ward 87 was killing people. The deaths continued until 2005 when the ward was shut. No independent inquiry has ever taken place regarding these patients.

Investigations into Professor Southall over the last ten years
Year	Investigating Body	Issue
1998	North Staffordshire Hospital (NSH)	Wide-ranging complaint by Mrs Mellor
Leading to the following inquiries
1999	NSH, Dr Durbin, Prof McNeish	Research *
1999	NSH, Dr Voyce	Child Protection *
1999	NSH (internal)	Personal Conduct
1999	Midlands Health Consultancy Network On behalf of: West Midlands Regional Office, DoH Newborn Research
* resulted in suspension from hospital for 27 months while further inquiries pursued
1999-2000	West Midlands Regional Office	Griffiths Inquiry on Research
2000	NSH	Consent in newborn research
2000-1	NSH &Sir David Hull	Research **
2000-1	NSH &RCPCH Child Protection Experts	Child Protection **
** resulted in return to work
2000-1	Staffordshire Multi-agency Group	Research & Consent
2000 ongoing	GMC – to go to Hearing 2008?	Newborn Research
		(reviewed x3 by PPC & Appeal Court)
2000 ongoing	GMC investigations	Multiple complaints
2001	Fraud squad	Childhealth Advocacy International (CAI)
2001	Charities Commission	CAI
2001	Metropolitan Police	Child protection issues
2001	South Wales Police	Child protection issues
2004	GMC Hearing re: Clarke complaint	Informing child protection concerns
2005	Council for Healthcare	Review of GMC sanction Regulatory Excellence
2006	GMC Hearing (half heard)	Informing child protection concerns & record keeping
2007	Attorney General	Child protection and record keeping

These inquiries have been alongside numerous complaints (resulting in other minor inquiries) made by the same group of individuals to:

Research ethics committees who have passed research projects

Universities who have supported research

Editors of journals in which papers have been published

Conference organisers

Various police authorities

Politicians ***

Civil servants

Ministers in HM Government

Media organisations

*** Alongside the complaints against Professor Roy Meadow, this resulted in MPs of all political parties denying aspects of child abuse in the Houses of Parliament (2003-2004) and comparing Professor Southall to Josef Mengele (John Hemmings MP, 2006).

North Staffordshire NHS Trust spent millions, the GMC have spent millions resulting in a hike in GMC subscription funds. All the above complaints were coordinated by Penny Mellor . It is amusing to see a reputable broadcast company such as Midlands Today, taking the word of a ex criminal whom Judge Whitburn termed a "liar". Very credible. We must not of course forget the forensic psychiatrist report related to her. So lets see, Midlands Today gets a ex criminal to comment on a man who has not been convicted :)> . Her journalist friend Brian Morgan will have come across the issue of patient death. Having mocked the dead on Ward 87, he may change is opinion in the future.

Not an ounce of these funds were ever investigated in an independent broader data study of Ward 87 - a place that adults died. Thousands died unnecessarily. The media still talks of David Southall despite a failure to make any charge stick. So while we are thinking about dissing David Southall - let us just spare a small thought for the thousands of patients who died on Ward 87 when it was an acute admissions ward- the deaths that remain uninvestigated. These deaths had nothing to do with David Southall. These deaths had something to do with David Filligham [ still working as a Chief Executive in a different hospital]. Dr Monica Spitieri [ still working as a Professor], Dr John Green [ still working in private practice]. We must not mention the fact that the GMC threw the complaints out following the 2005 report into Ward 87 citing "out of time". While doing so, they took an out of time complaint RE Mrs M [Against David Southall] to hearing in December 2007.

Perhaps it is time the GMC caught the right doctors now :). Of course, the other more entertaining sentence of the reporter is that the " GMC is In a Mess". Too right, just that the public or the doctors simply don't know the true extent of the mess. They are currently considering the flawed audit by Professor Griffiths at Rule 12 for the third time.

Person David Filligham

Right click for SmartMenu shortcuts

GMC Subscription Fees and Sheep

Hike the Fees GMC. We will blindly follow :)

It is 5 am in the morning and I am sitting around doing the final edits of a piece called Stigma on NHS Exposed. The article centres around the impact of a child protection procedures on the parent. Actually, our hope is that the system will improve so that the less doctors subs will be spent on hanging child protection doctors.

During the last year, it has amazed me how much the GMC has wasted on vexatious complaints against child protection professionals. In fact, as soon as I understood the correlation, I wondered what the rest of the profession had been doing for all these years. I suspect I ought to blame the child protection professionals because they keep missing this topic out of their campaigns preferring instead of crow about themselves. I doubt my fellow bloggers will really care about the issue. I am not surprised. It is a boring issue. It though amuses me to think that 300,000 doctors follow like sheep and pay the GMC to abuse their funds. No one raises and objection at all. In the eyes of doctors, the child protection issue is far from the issue of subscription fees? Is it that far?

During the time period where complaints have hiked up against doctors, subscription fees paid to the GMC have hiked up from about £90 to about £400 [rounded figures]. Someone ought to do a graphical correlation of this. Even Mr Intelligent Oliver Dearlove who wallows around with the child protection people has failed to figure out this correlation. No one thinks this is an important problem. We must therefore assume that all doctors are happy to pay this sort of fee per year. The GMC of course runs a monopoly. No one questions this monopoly either. It is rather like Microsoft but with no EU control. The GMC controls doctors much like a border collie controls sheep. The sheep say nothing but blindly follow and never bats an eye lid. And this is of course why the GMC gets away with daylight robbery.

We rely upon the General Medical Council to use the funds given to them correctly. Do they use it correctly? Over the last few years, there have been many cases where the GMC has merely reacted to the media. They have given the media the verdicts they have demanded and sold doctors out. Forget justice. It is only lately that the GMC have understood who is pulling their strings. Since 1998, the nefarious group of half baked msbp campaigners who give the wrong diagnosed a bad name have ruled the GMC.

Until this year, the GMC and the media had not been educated. Now that they are educated [with a great deal of difficulty], the fortunes of the leading paediatrician in the field has changed.
This may be a isolated media incident today but no one has questioned how much hard working doctors have paid for the GMC to abuse their powers and chase after the media's whim. The message we have really is that doctors are quite happy to pay fees that hike up by approximately £100 per year. It is this unquestioning, silent attitude that results in abuses of power.

James Landon our webmaster told me that I should stop telling men off. He is probably right because I spend most of my time telling men off because their inadequacies annoy me. I often wish I lived in the 1950s where men were men and not more concerned about being PC. The quality of men has really fallen. Hardly anyone is chivarious, hardly any of them are brave and this I think is a product of failing society :) and the increase in feminism. Men have indeed become lazy and have become relatively dormant. They have all lost the skills of being a hero.

James had spotted Jobbing Doctor who clearly felt I had taken him to task. I had whined and whinged on a previous piece. Actually, that is what women do, whine and whinge.

Actually, it had not been directed to The Jobbing Doctor at all. I merely postulated that JD was writing about other topics to avoid the most uncomfortable and depressing one. So I moaned about how busy doctors always say they are. Amusingly, JD states

"For this I apologise, but other things have taken up my time".

It is true that sex takes considerably longer after 50 but not that long JD :). But JD is cute and we have to look longingly over the cybernet at him. JD is actually a very busy man - 3 wives, 20 children, PCT woes, cats, dogs, me etc etc. He also pays about £400 per year to the GMC and doesn't ask himself the question - why are the fees hiking up? JD is lovely but he also accidentally makes mistakes like telling me what his real initials are. At this juncture, JD becomes even more attractive because he is afterall a man who can make mistakes like all of us. JD will fret this morning, will pace up and down his office and drink some extra strong coffee. This mistaken disclosure will worry him more than the amount of GMC subscription funds he forks out this year. Other things taking up a doctors time is also typical of many doctors - too busy to think about the fact that their own regulatory body is committing day light robbery.

JD like David Southall knows I hold secrets that I have never disclosed. JD also knows that he can actually trust me far more than the GMC [ although he may not initially think so]. The GMC recently provided an exemption and refused to disclose how much doctors funds were spent on the 40 or so complaints against David Southall over the last 10 years. This is because the GMC holds more secrets than I do. JD and I will no doubt have many arguments much like David Southall and I have had. This is what happens when grown up men miss the obvious. Like David Southall, JD will wish to associate with me through his anoymous name [ behind the scenes] but never with his own name in the public domain :). Grown men do amuse me somewhat. All grown up - but fearful of so many things. Indeed, fearful of fear itself.

Of course, JD should also realise that being of a certain age - ie the sexy, smouldering mature man over 50, he will have to pay the GMC well into his retirement. So while the rest of the bloggers muse about variations of subjects, I amuse myself by the fact that they pay the GMC subscription fees and follow the GMC much like sheep.

Still, one saving grace is that JD is cute, he ought really to have married me because if he had done, he would have been "too busy to blog" :) :) and I would have been far too busy to be concerned about the abuse of GMC subscription fees. Indeed " other things may have taken up our time" and I certainly know about life sentences and handcuffs.

Fear of the Unknown

All bloggers In Their Igloos

Something has happened to the bloggers this weekend. Dr Rant has not appeared. Witchdoctor is subdued and Jobbing Doctor is trying to write about things to keep his mind off the real issues. I believe everyone is utterly shocked by Debra Shepherd's death. It has stunned the blogsphere, stunned the doctors-only web site she frequented and placed most doctors into uncertainty.

Well, Debra Shepherd is not the only death that happens at the General Medical Council. They destroy lives and most of those lives are recorded here. Debra will be forgotten just like all the people the GMC have taken from this earth. Like all the doctors and families we forget.

I am sure if I had died in the year 2000, the posters on **** would have said " Ah, well, she deserved it and we all said she was crazy anyway" and just moved on. I doubt there is any kindness in this profession of ours. I have found droplets of kindness in people like Witchdoctor and perhaps even Jobbing doctor but in general the profession is a cruel place. Debra found it a cruel place because that is what she told me. It is a cruel, unhelpful, cold place where your peers judge you constantly. That could be seen by the discussions regarding her, each posts analysed, contemplated upon, dissected, each person doing their postmortem on her mental state through her posts. I wonder if anyone found her grave and placed flowers on it?

I also want to know why it was me and not anyone else on **** who discovered her death? For me it was an accident - a thought that happened after midnight. I was not a close friend to her as many posters on the doctors-only website were to her.

I am surprised that not one of the forum's posters asked why Debra had not been posting anymore . I am surprised no one thought to mail her or phone her or check how she was doing. She seems to have died silently. She seems to have died as Mozart did. We all lead our busy little lives and never stop to think of others who may require help.

In life, everyone is too preoccupied doing their own thing.

Take Richard Marks of Remedy UK for instance. He stated as follows today :-

"I've been completely snowed under this week with non-Remedy work and am getting a bit behind, so sorry I haven't been in touch sooner"

Yet, he had enough time to post on that same forum about Debra Shepherd and discuss the pros and cons of Shepherds posts with Liz Miller. Richard of course thinks I was born yesterday and that that none of us notice. Richard though is Richard - just like every single person on the forum - busy with being busy. We love people when they are happy, fit, healthy, have good careers and are accepted into the fold - and we forget them when they find themselves in trouble or are ostracized by their peers. And so everyone is too busy for anyone these days. This sense of being "busy" always amuses me somewhat - because doctors are of the view that they are the busiest in the planet and no other mortal is busy :). I ought to tell the many many mailers or those who search for help that I am too busy - in fact I don't think I have ever told anyone I am too busy for them - we all have to make time.

The kindness has disappeared out of the medical profession. What is it about us these days. We fail to take care of our own. Debra Shepherd is simply a product of the fact we as a profession are uncaring by nature. Some spend their time conspiring to backstab their own friends and take a certain pleasure in it. A wicked sense of glee that arises out of power. Perhaps the profession, medical school, peer pressure makes us the people we are - totally uncaring and cold about each other - unwilling to help, overlooking those in trouble or judging them at posh dinners while we all gloat about how great our lives are. Are our empty selfish decadent lives really so great?

The fact remains that since the above news the bloggers have lost their fire to fight. The day we stop raising important issues or caring for one another is the day we all truly die. There are of course more meanings to death than just physical death.

It is very easy to blame the death on the GMC. It is though harder to blame Shepherds death on ourselves. As the Inspector Calls play states " We are all responsible"

Whistleblower Roll Call. Dr Mike Tobin

Dr Colin White.

This week, I am due to feature a number of cases initially written in Hospital Doctor on the 25th June 2005. This is because these cases are now not available on the internet. Essentially, there should be a record of all these cases so they are not forgotten.

The first one is the case of Dr Mike Tobin

" A senior medical manager is still in post after being found guilty of performing a flawed and unfair audit on a consultant claiming to be a whistleblower. The GMC found that Dr Colin White, then Clinical Director of Medicine at Pinderfields Hopistal, had given a distorted and misleading impression of physician Dr Mike Tobin's clinical competence. Dr White was promoted to associate medical director of Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust a few weeks before the GMC's finding of serious professional misconduct on 10th June. Dr Tobin says his concerns over equipment and poor surgical practise led to his victimisation. John Parkes Trust Executive has seen no reason to criticise Dr White's ability to practise clinically"
Tobin is a tough guy - and he hasn't given up. He is due to take his Trust to court under the Harassment Act 1997.

This is what he had to say

"Last night, Dr Tobin, 51, said: "This has been a very traumatic period for me and I very much regret the premature end of a career that I loved so much. The primary purpose of this civil action is to hold people to account for the harm they have done. "The vast majority of healthcare professionals do a good job. However, as in all walks of life, bad practice can occur which may continue despite individuals raising concerns in the local workplace. If bad practice persists – and especially when this compromises patient safety – it is a doctor's duty to whistleblow. It is very sad that whistleblowers have to sacrifice so much and have to endure such suffering in seeking a safe environment for patients."

Dr Rant's Fanmail and a View From the Hilltop

Since I have written lush puppy posts about Dr Rant, too many women have been mailing me about his identity and his so called sex appeal. So here are some extracts.

" Rita, we loved your blog regarding Dr Rant. Do you have his identity as we would like to ask him out" Donna and Gill.

" Dear Dr, Dr Rant is hot, where does he get all those expletives from. Wish he would swear at me" Eva [ Berlin]

"Dr Pal, I read your blog and think it is great. I quite fancy the idea of Dr Rant, I would love his number", Tina [ Ireland]

" Forget, Dr Scot Jnr, I am in love with Rant" [name withheld]

"Dr Rant must be totally sexy" Claire [ London]

I have omitted the rest due to x rated expletives and children sometimes read this blog. JD we know cannot honestly read a 12A blog.

I have though refused to accept mail with frilly knickers in them on behalf of Dr Rant. Moreover, The Jobbing Doctor has repeatedly stated that Dr Rant's blood pressure is not under control at the present time. Perhaps JD could provide his opinion on whether Dr Rant could cope with any more women falling at his feet. It seems the Anglo saxon expletive is now " IN" and men who don't swear are "OUT". I would be utterly grateful if Jobbing Doctor were to advise Dr Rant to avoid being "hotstuff" to the female population. Perhaps less swearing is in order. I cannot cope with all these emails. I am not even old enough to read some of them. I sought advice from my confidante and experienced over 36 guru - Deb Acle. I don't understand the psyche of women.

Deb Acle referred to him "RantyPants". And there we have it. That was indeed the verdict. Dr Rant is now the new cyberworld's sex symbol. Alas, the Old Sage Witch has resorted to intelligent discussions following her disastrous collapse at the sight of Dr Rant yesterday. Dr Rant, as the wizard refused to show her his well endowed magic wand for fear of further problems and resultant ventricular fibrillation. Witchdoctor was convinced that Dr Rant was no Virgin and was fun loving [one for Hello Magazine to note] but Jobbing Doctor told the world that he knew a number of things about Virgins.

So, it is true that not one man from Scotland has been gentlemanly enough to send me as follows

1. A box of short bread
2. A picture of a man in a kilt.

[it is now Day 7].

And this is despite being persuaded to star in the Inverness Chronicle . OMG it isn't one of the Remedy UK boys quoted there! Did the Remedy UK boys fail to thank all my blogging friends on Remedy UK's website? OMG OMG, do we see evidence of memory loss.? Surely it cannot have been purposeful and Richard Marks is no doubt running around having stopped inhaling Helium gas for his **** photoshot. Is Richard Marks going to make it to his Remedy UK website in time to spot this error and rectify it :)!

Oh, for avoidance of doubt, Remedy UK aren't supporting me in the GMC complaint :). I hope that clarifies it for the rest of the universe. That is because Big Girls Do it For Themselves! Apparently, Richard Marks blessed me for all my efforts with the Scot Jnr case. Gosh, aren't I a lucky girl eh or perhaps Richard likes being Cardinal Marks spreading the Remedy UK evangelism. "Bless you my child, for you have previously sinned on a doctors only web site" :).

Or perhaps it is simply SWSNBN fever :) :). Apparently, contagious throughout **** and a preventative vaccine has not been found. We shall not mention the theft of ideas from these blogs onto a doctors only forum with a complete lack of acknowledgment for those ideas :) :). By Jove - are we too dim to notice :)?!Of course, we are. That is because the only clever people in the world are doctors only forum inhabitants.

I ought to say something about Debra Shepherd at this juncture. There is a simple point here. The GMC has run the criminal standard for years. It hasn't changed to the civil standard as yet. No one can say [to the criminal standard] that posts by Debra were definitely by her. After all, anyone can post via a password etc. So, the GMC should never have used the posts during their investigation - simply because the evidence was never to the criminal standard. Of course, the GMC works on its own standard - that is an arbitrary standard. Debra is not around to defend herself and I think speculation over her posts [ yes, Richard Marks] is uncalled for. It is also, insulting to the dead.

I often wish I had not questioned the issue of Debra Shepherd and had I not argued the night before with an anonymous emailer [ who refused to believe that posts can be used and have been used at the GMC] I would never have dug her name out or published it. Now it seems, no one has any idea when she passed away. Thats ok, because I have made a FOI request to the GMC. If her family want the posts on Debra Shepherd taken down, they just have to email me, I would be happy to remove everything on her. I also have no wish to distress them at all. I had assumed she died a year ago [ that is because I was informed of that]. The dates are uncertain as we speak.

On the 12th June 2006, I wrote a piece on NHS Exposed. As usual, the morons on that doctors-only forum paid no attention to what I said and carried on merrily. Of course, Rita Pal has no idea what she is talking about! Having dissed her as a mad hatter for years and made her life hell at work with shitty forum posts all over the hospital mess, no one of course was about to believe what was there in front of their faces. There is of course the issue of rising above stupid people which is often important for the greater good.

But of course, I had more idea than many people as to what was going on - no one heeds the warnings and they get themselves into a pickle again.

This is what I wrote in 2006.

THE HUNTING GROUNDS

Rumour within the medical profession cites a doctors only web forum as a hunting ground for GMC Screeners and GMC Assessors. Prowling the Internet forests of the forum is on occasion a full time occupation for these GMC doctors. Vulnerable doctors speak openly of their anguish, distress and matters affecting their lives within the confines of a private Internet chat group. The provision of companionship away from the outside world leaves many doctors to seek solace and comradeship from their fellow doctors. Comradeship always has a price. Little do they know that a number of GMC committee members actively seek doctors to “ fit up”. From our investigations many committee members are members. of the doctors only web site. It makes their work so much easier.

Information travels to the GMC in someway – through meetings in toilets, through whispering campaigns and through memos and telephone calls. Some sick doctors seeking support may well find themselves inadvertently within the Health Procedures. Other alternatives within the hospitals are a group called the “Three Wise Men” developed by the Department of Health and based within each Trust. These provide a informal reporting mechanism to the GMC itself. One such man identified as a GMC Assessor and also a member of the northern Three Wise Men panel is Dr David Goodhead Consultant Psychiatrist Doncaster NHS Trust. These systems are relatively unknown to the average doctor.

The reputation of the Health Procedures though is this “Once you are in there, you never come out”. It appears to be a cul de sac for doctors, a dark tunnel with no way out. The Health Procedures are reputed to be draconian with repeated assessments by specialists to assess Fitness to Practise that can potentially go on forever. The process takes so long that doctors often become deskilled. The GMC does not function as a rehabilitation programme for doctors – it functions as an assessment for “ fitness to practise”. The doctor has the option of voluntary compliance or the GMC can force a doctor to comply under the Medical Act. Most doctors feel obligated to comply.

So was anyone paying a great deal of attention? Of course, not! And now, doctors are dead and all of a sudden its OMG OMG, what has happened?

Now, if I say this online it will be forgotten but in about 5 years the problem with surface :-

Here goes - the GMC and the Department of Health has extreme procedures for data retention and circulation and spread of doctors data. In 5 years, most doctors [ based on increasing statistics on complaints] will have faced a GMC/NHS complaint due to the lack of directives and policies to safeguard doctors from frivolous complaints. The GMC is a organisation that is now more draconian than the secret services. They use private detectives, they abuse their procedures and more and more doctors will end up there helpless. There is no effective defence union support for any of this. The GMC is responsible for more violation of human rights than China. No one has to believe me. It is simply a fact many will find out about in time.

Now, this will affect all doctors in the next 5 years. Is anyone listening, of course not. No one understands and what they don't understand they don't solve. That is because all doctors circulate in a gold fish tank-like forum and wander around oblivious and unable to think about the repercussions of the current changes post Shipman. So, is anyone listening? Of course, no one is listening.

I sent Dr Gordon Caldwell [ Mr "I believe in Human Rights but not your rights Rita"] the GMC disclosure document. I asked him to read it. Did he? Of course, he didn't. Does he know the implication of data sharing around the GMC, Department of Health and related Trusts, of course not. Does he know that this is an impending danger for all doctors? Of course, not. Because he simply cannot be bothered to apply his mind. Nice man, nice views - but lacking in application. Too many large documents, too busy to read them Gordon!?

One final issue, it is because doctors wonder around oblivious to the obvious, that disasters happen eg Dr Scot Jnr or Debra Shepherd.

They happened because the rest of the fucking profession did nothing to protect them by making changes to the system. If they had taken the time to understand the problems, they would find a solution - not wait for me to dig up the DOH Suspension Procedures and also the Good Medical Practise Guidance then cut and paste material onto a doctors only web site to pretend it is their own. There is of course no point being a copycat - there is a large point in being able to think about the future and being able to prevent disasters from happening. It isn't up to me to prevent it. It is up to the profession collectively to prevent it. For that to happen, doctors have to be prepared to empower themselves and to be able to think logically - not shudder at documents and go OMG OMG, it is a large document, let my defence union read it! I have no problems with copying ideas. I do have a problem in failing to assess situations and a failure in problem solving. In the end, no one saves anyone - you have to save yourself if you find yourself in that pit.

There is one point - doctors have to learn to think for themselves not run around like headless chickens moaning. They also have to learn to be brave. They also have to learn to assert their rights and they have to learn that the system that is with us is the one they never bothered to change. If the profession does not change collectively now - each doctor is currently in a dangerous situation waiting to be trapped by the post Shipman changes. Of course, no one will heed this warning - they will just go their merry way, on their once per year hols, on their kids parties, to their dinners and their socials - until of course the GMC procedures, the NHS procedures cross their path and shatter their lives into 1000 pieces. It can happen to anyone.

Paice and Needham. The General Medical Council Complaint

Medical Establishment

Following the release of Dr Scot Jnr [who is now going to behave like a good little boy while continuing his expletives in private], I have been asked by various sectors of the UK whether I plan to continue the GMC complaint. No doubt Paice and Needham want to know the answer to this question. The answer of course is "YES", I shall continue with the complaint and welcome all defence union input. Following discussions with my fellow bloggers, we are all unanimous in this decision. I know the GMC well and no doubt they will wish to throw this complaint out but I am never withdrawing the complaint. Dr Scot Jnr may now be wimping all the way to theatre but there is a principle here to fight for - that principle is accountability for all those who abuse the rights of others.

Dr Scot Jnr.
Gagged for Good.

Dr Debra Shepherd At the GMC - Request for Information

I have received certain information suggesting that Professor Elizabeth Paice may have had some involvement in the case of Debra Shepherd. I have no idea whether or not this is true nor do I know very many details about Debra's GMC hearings although information I have received makes some interesting allegations and connections.

If anyone has any further information on the case especially who was involved and how the matter came to be referred to the GMC, please let me know. Documentary evidence would be most welcome. My email is rpal@btinternet.com

Many thanks

"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team"

Blog Warfare

Before I move off from moaning about the Dr Scot Jnr case, I wanted to make an announcement. If there is any junior or senior doctor out there in trouble [any sort of trouble] contact the A Team and we will either advise you or forward you to someone who can help. It is important not to suffer in silence. All confidentiality respected. If you want material written, please email us with the evidence and we will see if something can be done. In summary, if you have a problem and if no one else can help - email us. This is a fast effective blogging solution - and we don't need the media anymore.

Websites and Contacts are as follows :-

THE A Team

http://www.witchdoctor.wordpress.com
http://www.thejobbingdoctor.blogspot.com
http://www.drrant.net
http://www.nhsexposedblog.blogspot.com
http://www.doctorbloggs.blogspot.com
http://www.ward87.blogspot.com

I am contactable at the email address rpal@btinternet.com [24/7]

Dr Rant is having a blonde hair day :)

Ranting Blonde Today

My apologies in advance to all blondes the world over. Dr Rant is having a blonde hair day today.

Now, Rant has written a post about supporting doctors suffering injustices.

Rant says

" I'm none too fucking impressed with my fellow bloggers or the mainstream either. Throughout the Scot Junior crisis only a tiny handful of bloggers (Witch Doctor and Rita Pal's blogs spring to mind) made any real effort on the story. There should have been an international outcry about the abuses that took place in Highland, and continue to take place across the NHS"

Rant misses out the most IMPORTANT MAN in BLOGGING WORLD - Just as dastardly handsome as Dr Rant is the THEJOBBINGDOCTOR.

The Jobbing Doctor is well cool. I read JD's blog every day. In fact, I often wish men my age were like JD. JD, Witchdoctor, I and Dr Rant have tirelessly coordinated a campaign for Dr Scot Jnr. Do we care that Dr Scot Jnr is sounding like an ungrateful toad - we don't! All we care about is the fact that team effort resulted in success. JD has supported all of us -providing daily bitesized critiques of the injustices within the NHS. JD is intelligent, classy and superbly talented. Yes, fine I admit it, I fancy his writing.

I was shocked at Dr Rant's blonde moment. How could he miss out JOBBING DOCTOR.?

If I was next to Dr Rant, I would of course persuade him gently :) to add JD to his blog post :). If that didn't work, he would simply have to be tied in a corner with at least three wonderbras until he coughed up his passwords - so I could add JD to the blogpost. It is true that we would hear an expletive or two or even three. I think all women know how to silence Dr Rant :) and I am no exception.

So for all those women out there, while Dr Rant exudes sex appeal, Jobbing Doctor exudes romantic appeal. JD is indeed much like a fine champagne. I am positive the Old Sage Witch will have fallen head over heels for JD as well. This is the reason, the Old Sage Witch has been a little unsteady on her pins and is suffering from atrial flutter. Who can blame her eh.

So if I flutter my eye lashes and look deeply into Dr Rant's eyes, will he add JD to his list? Of course, he won't - just like those annoying Highland Surgeons who haven't even sent me a box of shortbread never mind a picture of them in their kilts *sigh* :).

1900 - Following some gentle persuasion over a candlelit cyberdinner - Dr Rant added JD to his blog :)