Why prattle on?

One of the most common questions asked of me is this - why do I still talk about Ward 87? Is it because; like many whistleblowers, I can't let go? Is it because, I have a vendetta against the NHS? Is it because, I have nothing better to do? Well, it's none of those reasons. The main reason for prattling on about Ward 87 is to demonstrate to  members of the public that the NHS is currently unaccountable. As it is unaccountable, it is dropping patients like flies and not learning any lessons from its mistakes.

It is also vital to demonstrate that as a whistleblower, you can be right but no one thanks you for sticking your neck out on the chopping board for it to be - errr - chopped off! I was a reluctant and unintended whistleblower. Placed in a situation where there was no other option - I took the only path that was the right one. It was one of those emergency situations and I made the call to save patients. What should have ended with an improvement in the health system escalated into a national controversy.

In the last 10 years, and it has been 10 years - I have found that the only person concerned about the accountability of the hazardous conditions on the Ward was me. My consultants couldn't give a flying F. The man responsible for the fiasco is currently working at a Private Hospital, remains untouchable and is probably engaging in a round of golf. The Chief Executive is minting far more money now than he was entitled to. The patients of course are 6 foot under and the relatives have been kept in the dark about what happened to their loved ones. The GMC of course have better things to do like develop their obsessional compulsive chasing Rita disorder. The CQC is quite mad and the Department of Health just wants to forget I even existed. 

Of course, I do exist and I don't plan on dying unless a large meteor falls down on me tomorrow. So what I want to know is this - where is the accountability that all these organisations crow about. I know it is very easy for the Department of Health to brush this issue aside and say " Ah, that was in 1998 and this is now, we have changed".  I am still waiting for accountability and it has not come. The conclusion here is this - does the Department of Health expect every whistleblower to tolerate what I have been subjected to. If that is so, then I doubt anyone will raise their head above the parapet. Anyhow, I have all the time in the world to sit wait and watch -I would like to see how many years it takes for accountability to be achieved. It is vital not to misunderstand me, I have indeed moved on with many parts of my life - the past is of course part of me and I am simply curious as to why the establishment believes that I will be stupid enough to accept the pitiful trickles of bird food they have thrown in my direction. So after some remote accountability, I can stop talking about Ward 87.