Ward 87: 0308. Everyone is asleep

Sunday, 11 July 2010

0308. Everyone is asleep

One of the problems of being able to work longer hours [ and at twice the speed as many people] is the fact that I am up at this time of the night wondering why the entire road is asleep. Normal people apparently do that kind of thing. Whistleblowers though [ well, perhaps me and a few others] tend to stay awake catching up on work, paperwork and anything else [thieving chocolate biscuits and Haagen Daaz Cookies and Cream out of the Fridge]. This is the legacy of being in the habit of working over the hours as a doctor and then working longer hours than many lawyers during litigation.

I have been known to turn around 260 pages overnight to be delivered by fax to the GMC. These days though, I am pleased I don't compete with the GMC's legal team or any other lawyer for that matter. It was tiring, stressful, tedious and boring. These days, it is great not to fret a number of things that a stressful life brings you. Over the years, I think I have grown past the competitive A Level student then medical student to someone that simply looks at certain situations, recognizes its boredom factor and moves on. It is the kind of "Done it, seen it, got the teeshirt, now I am not interested".

Over the last three years, I have desperately tried to train myself into sleeping like a normal person - ie not my usual 2 hours since A Levels. These attempts have failed consistently. I have tried to count sheep, count ethnic minority doctors being struck off, horlicks, milk whatever but nothing has ever worked.

No doubt, today, I shall fall asleep about now and be up by 0530. Old habits die hard but one of these days I will succeed in being like the rest of the neighbourhood - asleep by 10. It might be good to turn from vampire to human one day.

3 comments:

Henry North London 2.0 said...: Well No I was awake at that time So there, You could have texted and said R u Awake?

In fact I was wide awake by five am

God knows whats happening; 12 July 2010 at 07:25
SCRUTINY said...: I was fast asleep untill the alarm went off at 6:45am. Quick shower meat pie then off to work.

Pizza, pie and chips for tea.

M; 12 July 2010 at 10:50
Ozzie Git said...: Must admit, my sleep patterns are pretty shocking as well. Dont think there is a solution. I do find though that usually one night a week I crash and burn for 8 hrs. The rest of the week seems to be between 3-5 hrs.

Maybe 8hrs sleep really isnt the norm??; 15 July 2010 at 15:05

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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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Sunday, 11 July 2010

0308. Everyone is asleep

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