Ward 87: Witchdoctor's Granny and the Stylish Scot

Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Witchdoctor's Granny and the Stylish Scot

Witchdoctor never answers her emails. Neither does her Scottish granny. The above has been designed by a tall dark and devilishly handsome stranger. His dark features are certainly not as fabulous as his technological talents. He is certainly good with his hands :) .Witchdoctor and her granny may well faint at the sight of this dark stranger. Now, before Witchdoctor gets all hormonally challenged, can she review the above and give us her educated view.

1. Is it the right tartan?
2. Shall we go with the red ribbon or the tartan ribbon

Witchdoctor has to understand that I am besieged with anonymous intelligent, young and dashing doctors via email. This phenomena has never happened before :). Are they men in tights or men in kilts? That is the primary thought that is passing my mind. Can Witchdoctor or her granny shed light on any of this?

Witchdoctor has to understand, this bunny has her ears flopped down due to a high temperature. She also made a large mistake today due to lack of TLC, lack of surgeons by her side and is riddled by guilt at said mistaken disclosure. I hope no harm has come to the Dr Scot Jnr. I am extremely apologetic for this faux pas. Perhaps I shall never be forgiven :) and no one from Inverness will send me a picture of Men in Kilts, or send me Highland short bread or perhaps even a Scot in a kilt! :)! For avoidance of doubt, during lunch break, and while spluttering my virus to all and sundry, I was at the bank. Low and behold, in front of me was a Scot from Inverness. I had of course forgotten what a lovely lilt Scottish men have until today. The audience must remember that I live in the Midlands. We are a little challenged when it comes to hunky Scottish men. They are rare. Apparently, women here are simply taught to accept the lilt of the Brummie accent because it is all the same in the dark :). Is it? Perhaps the Witchdoctor's granny could confirm.

I am reliably told by James Landon that no harm has been done as he spotted the matter and apparently was rumoured to be watching my backside. The matter has been corrected.

In the meantime, this is what the Highland had to say to a media approach

"Thank you for your email to NHS Highland. We do not discuss issues relating to individual members of staff in public and therefore are unable to help you with your story"

Awwwwwwww. I say! It was alright for Gillian Needham to be a blabbermouth when it came to discussing the personal data of Dr Scot Jnr with Elizabeth Paice. Surely, Needham should have said

"We do not discuss personal data relating to our staff and cannot confirm whether or not Dr Scot works here".

Oh now, she did though discuss Dr Scott junior on the telephone then promptly suspended him. Now its all silence in NHS Highlands is it? GMC got their tongue then?

If the matter has nothing to do with patient safety, can Elizabeth Paice rely on protection from the Data Protection Act 1998 or Medical Act 1983 if she is processing Dr Scot's data. Moreover, if the matter has nothing to do with patient safety, has Elizabeth Paice defamed Dr Scot junior. by reporting the matter? There would of course be a good case for malice :) that would beat Paice's defence of qualified privilege :)

Now that is something for Professor Paice's defence union - the Medical Protection Society to think about isn't it?

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About The Author

There is a lot of things most people can say about me but in reality I am NHS Whistleblower. In 1998, I followed the guidance set out in Good Medical Practice[GMC] and raised concerns about substandard care on Ward 87 North Staffordshire NHS Trust. I also raised concerns about the large number of Midlands Hospitals covered by West Midlands NHS Executive in 1999. Following the recordings of the HSMR scores, only Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust spiked their figures. This was due to the inordinately high death rates. These deaths could have been prevented had the government acted in 1999. There are many other hospitals with equally high death rates but 1000s have not raised the HSMR scores. The Mid Staffordshire Inquiry shows poor standards that are similar to many hospitals in the Midlands [particularly Distinct General Hospitals]. They were also the identical to the concerns raised by me in 1999, many years before.

In 2010 the CQC finally admitted that North Staffordshire had "significantly high mortality" in the years I raised concerns.

This blog follows my adventures as a whistleblower. It was written between 2008-2010. It seeks to present what the media have never done. I also aim to discuss a number of medical issues important in the NHS today. A short account of my experiences is presented here.

Essentially, I raised concerns in 1998, locally then to all the authorities, the GMC, Department of Health and Trust attempted to say there was no substance to my concerns. In 2005, I discovered that all authorities had concealed the 1998 and 2001 internal reports that verified my concerns. This is a brief step by step summary of the events related to Ward 87.

Between 2000-2002, the General Medical Council conducted a "discreet inquiry" into my Fitness to Practice. I was never told of this investigation until I discovered quite by accident following a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998. The GMC were subjected to litigation by me due to the illegal investigation and repeated leaks of prejudicial information to potential employers. They were beaten in court following the first litigation of its kind. The GMC settled the case in favour of me. During litigation, the GMC subjected me quite severe harassment by revolving door vexatious complaints - 2 in total. I was cleared of all of them. I was never subjected to any Fitness to Practise hearings. All complaints were thrown out at case examiner's stage despite the GMC's malevolent intentions.

The GMC subsequently erased me from the Register for non payment of subscription fees. It should be emphasized that I was never sanctioned or struck off has speculated by some bloggers. In total, I have been subjected to 4 years of complaints that had no relation to my clinical work. This has had catastrophic consequences to my work as a doctor and eventually caused the assassination of my references in 2007.

This led to the test case R v General Medical Council Ex Parte Pal with the intention of defining the definition of potential misconduct and preventing vexatious complaints against doctors. The complaints were made by Penny Mellor and her associate Fiona Wollard [ niece of Professor Sir Charles George].

While permission was granted by a judge with Employment Law experience, the final hearing was lost courtesy of Justice Sir Andrew Collins who made various statements. One was that the GMC was free to rule differently on two separate cases with exactly the same facts and the other was to widen the analysis of misconduct to include conduct outside the profession. Justice Sir Andrew Collins has sat on numerous cases related to the GMC. He has often failed to declare that his brother Dr Mark Collins was once prosecuted by the GMC for alliances in Clapham Common. Details of this can be read here.

The two diametrically opposite analysis of misconduct was also discovered following the GMC's submission to R v General Medical Council Ex Parte Remedy UK. Essentially, one analysis appears to be used for some foreign doctors and a different more lenient definition is used for establishment doctors such as Liam Donaldson. The GMC were essentially caught red handed touting two different analysis of misconduct in two cases. This discrepancy is currently being investigated by both the CHRE and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The defenses to all these cases have taken up 52 files. By comparison, the GMC refused to investigate the doctors on Ward 87 despite the fact that their conduct was directly related to clinical work. They continue to work in various positions in the UK. No one was held accountable despite 2 reports verifying my concerns. Moreover, the Health Commission refused to conduct a broader data study in relation to the Ward 87. The GMC and Ombudsman refused to inform the patients on the Ward of the 1998 and 2001 Reports. The Sentinel newspapers refused to feature a legitimate advert.

In 2009, after discussion with Dr Phil Hammond, he wrote an excellent piece in Private Eye. While the media have provided little or no support for these issues, I am indebted to my fellow bloggers - Dr Rant, The Jobbing Doctor, Dr John Crippen and Witchdoctor. This blog exists to protect other doctors who I hope will never tread the path of whistleblowing. It is a path paved with injustice. It also serves to show the public that they cannot legitimately expect doctors to raise concerns in such a dangerous terrain. This indeed places patient safety in great jeopardy.

This blog ended in February 2010 as it was unlikely that I would ever return to medicine. I have also decided to end this particular saga here. I hope this blog will educate, entertain and remind the public that whistleblowing is a dangerous escapade and no junior doctor has treaded the same path as I have for a reason. The terrain is unsafe and always has been. I would say that I have been relatively unsupported in my journey through whistleblowing but singlehandedly I have been able to undercover evidence and establish some very important issues regarding the dangers of whistleblowing. I have ceased to respond to the media but I am always very happy to discuss matters with the public.

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Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Witchdoctor's Granny and the Stylish Scot

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