The Stepford Wives and The Debretts Brotherhood - Christopher Bulstrode [Jane Barton's Brother] and Harry Cayton [ Chief Executive CHRE]

Stepford Wives

My adventures with officialdom always amuse me no end. Of late, I have spent sometime investigating the CHRE. The CHRE used to be dubbed CR*P because they were styled CHRP. I first heard of them when Arpad Toth challenged them in court. That was a long time ago and we gossiped about their pitiful name that no one could actually take seriously. I then read the Country Doctor who amused me no end. The Country Doctor refers to them as a Load of CR*P and promptly dissects their functions. He dubbed it a quango. Of course, I didn't pay much heed to it until numerous people started to email me about the CHRE's hopeless attitude. It was as if they had put a tape recording on and people were receiving the same responses no matter what their concerns were. The organisation is quite robotic. Their correspondence is pristine, everyone gets the same neat responses no matter what question is asked. The problem with their responses is that they don't say much. There is no problem solving approach. The fact that 100 plus complaints against the GMC may signal a problem of some kind doesn't appear to be considered by them. I am not quite sure why they exist really. Perhaps it is a governmental accessory to appease the innocent public.

So I attempted to investigate the organisation and died laughing when I received their response to my FOIA Request. I shouldn't really mock the afflicted but its so tempting. I asked them what the case law was on misconduct. They couldn't tell me. I asked them what the case law was on the word "Proceedings" ie "Fitness to Practise Proceedings". The CHRE didn't know that either. I felt like whispering "Hey super regulator - its R v SDT Ex Parte Toth. The CHRE then did not wish to respond to a certain uncomfortable question because they were convinced that I had some kind of a hearing in May 2010. Of course, to my knowledge there was no hearing. So I was really at a loss as to which planet they were all on.

The CHRE were quite amusing though because for the last few days they have been skulking around the internet looking for me. Drones are quite predictable and tiresome really. All that time researching me on the internet, only to find that I write about things. Perish the thought eh :). Their attempts to control me [ which they have tried] will fall flat on their face. They don't know it yet because the CHRE are of the view that they are more intelligent than the world around them.

Perhaps I have rather a dark sense of humour but the CHRE really did remind me of the Stepford Wives. The entire organisation appears programmed in one direction. I could imagine them with their neat little dresses on, their neat rules and their delusions of grandeur. The individuals appear not to be able to think beyond protocol. I have never quite seen an organisation like this but there is a first time for everything.

Of course, I have been wondering whether one of their Council Members - Sally Irvine is indeed Donald Irvine's wife. Donald Irvine is of course the ex President of the GMC who currently spends his life dissing doctors. Of course, there are many many Sally Irvines around :). The person who can confirm this for me will hopefully email me soon. If she is indeed Donald's wife then there are some serious issues of declared potential conflicts to discuss. Donald Irvine was ofcourse responsible for the biggest scandal in medical history - Harold Shipman. He then blamed all the doctors for it so that he wouldn't be held accountable. It's a neat trick really and Irvine pulled it off spectacularly well. Irvine's wife assessing the Jane Barton's case?! With a declared interest, we may have believed in the CHRE. With an undeclared interest, we tend to observe them narrowly.

I discovered that most of the CHRE used to be staffed by ex GMC members. People like Isabel Nisbett and Michael Andrews. It may go part of the way to explain why they always speak glowingly of the General Medical Council. Of course, the GMC has never had a halo. They fail the public every day.

In the meantime, Graeme Catto refers to a club called the "Small Bald Set" and indeed that is where old Harry fits in. I feel a little bad for Harry because he hasn't coped at all well with the manner in which I have dissected the CHRE. Any shoots of hair he may have had left have all fallen out :).

I believe a more frank and transparent manner may have got him a rave review. I have of course never had an FOIA request responded to by a Chief Executive so it must have caused some difficulty. Of course, it caused some difficulty - they were very happy to overlook the GMC's misdemeanors in arguing one analysis of misconduct in one case and another one in a different case.

It was highly amusing to watch this super-regulator squirm away - afterall, they could not dump their fellow partners in it. I speak of course, of the GMC. I came to the conclusion that there was indeed nothing independent about the CHRE at all. They are willing to protect the GMC's reputation at any cost. Moreover, anyone who had complaints about the GMC were considered "disaffected" or irrelevant. This is why 100 plus complaints against the GMC were dismissed by the CHRE. Cayton admitted that their role was not to protect the rights of doctors. [ Quote from his letter dated 19 March 2010 " It is not our purpose to protect the rights of doctors to practise medicine"]. I found that view interesting. It is as if the CHRE were happy to overlook human rights violations against doctors. How this equated to good performance by a regulatory body was anyone's guess.

Essentially, I came to the same conclusion as the Country Doctor. The CHRE was infact a Labour Party side kick. That was why the Jane Barton decision was never challenged. Then Cayton is a Debretts man. It wouldn't be polite to place a sanction on a doctor who ends lives. It is interesting to note that Christopher Bulstrode [ Jane Barton's brother] is also a Debretts Man. That is a nice neat little party isn't it?! :). Of course, Harry didn't think to declare his Debretts connections on the CHRE's website or on their assessment of the Barton's case. I believe this issue makes his current position untenable given the code of conduct stipulated by the CHRE themselves. Anyhow, who am I to question such eminent people who may or may not be wine tasting together - I haven't of course had time to read the Debretts guide for ladies yet :).

The next episode of When Harry Met Sally will be sometime this week. It may or may not be explosive. I am off to watch another episode of Desperate Housewives - just another adventure on Wisteria Lane. Of course, it will never be as exciting as the Debretts Brothershood.

Until next time, Ciao.