The most important aspect of post whistleblowing effects is the feeling of spontaneous combustion. Life always remains on fire. Progress is always limited in a way because even though there are successes in some aspects of your life, the poor treatment endured during whistleblowing haunts you. It haunts every whistleblower.
My failure to accept the lack of accountability is quite obvious. I suspect that is the reason I set out to hold people accountable in a small way. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I find most MPs ineffective, I find authorities obstructive, I find people insensitive to the requirements of whistleblowers.
I find it unacceptable that my life was turned upside down due to the failure of various authorities to perform their function. Their failures as people and as a collective organisation where then blamed on me.
Various comments have been floated around about me, one of them is the word " tenacious". It is very easy for the failing system to blame the character of their whistleblower. The next sentence I hear is this " What do you want now, after 10 years". Well, how about some accountability in England?
Simply because a lot of fat cats in authority are unable to apply their minds to the serious failures in the UK, does not mean I should be a victim. Yes, I refuse to be a victim. I refuse to get depressed and I refuse to be like every other whistleblower in the UK. To the annoyance and the embarrassment of the Department of Health, I haven't gone away either. I don't believe there is a any reason I should accept the victim mould I am supposed to be in.My survival instincts are too good for that.
I have to thank the General Medical Council for toughening me up. My years of skirmishes with them have taught me how to approach matters in a tactical way. I have changed from the year 2000 when I was a very young frightened junior doctor with little knowledge of how anything worked. I still hold onto the values I did then. I think the GMC teaches you to be a survivor because if you can survive their tactics, you can survive anything. I have to admit that in the year 2002, I had discovered how much the GMC had kicked me.
I suspect if you get kicked enough, you stand up and kick back and gradually the quality of kicking gets better. To a certain extent, I compete with the intellect of the GMC. Beating them in various arguments or losing is a learning point for me. The GMC will deny many things but they are aware that they have made small changes to the system following their contact with me. The organisation has not improved to a great extent yet but I always live in the hope that it will be work for patients and doctors alike. Hope is such an innocent concept for all of us. I fear deserting it because I will then have to accept the status quo and I am not willing to do that. I am not willing to accept that organisations cannot change for the better.
Perhaps even after all this time, I fail to accept that large numbers of people can die on a ward and no one understands the implications such a failure to record death rates. It is such a simple concept yet recording death rate on a ward to monitor the quality of clinical care is not something understood by any authority. Perhaps, there is a failure to understand this concept properly. Afterall, if it was understood, they would find out how many people the system kills in the UK. Perhaps that would not be the done thing.
I have learned about the system. I have learned about the Common Purpose methodology used to subvert important issues. I have learned to hone my skills to win most arguments. I have learned many things and often the amount of work needed to deal with whistleblowing issues makes you feel you may spontaneously combust anytime. It hasn't happened to me yet and it probably won't. Nevertheless, despite the obstructive nature of authorities, organisations, Members of Parliament and the House of Lords, I don't believe whistleblower should ever give up. At least, I never have.
My inspiration often comes from those who have fought longer and harder battles than me. Arpad Toth and Will Powell continue to teach me many things about the future, the past, of accountability and survival. They have also taught me that the truth is worth fighting for because to desert it would mean that I was indeed a failure. Perhaps my fear is that I will accept the status quo and not fight for all the principles that are important in life.
The concept of "Hope" is a great thing. It keeps all of us moving forward on a journey to protect the truth and the innocent belief that the world can and should be a better place. Children are often better protectors of the truth than adults. Most adults spend a great proportion of their time maintaining their place in society and embellishing the truth. Those who climb up the greasy pole to the heady heights of position and power often desert the idea of protecting the truth in favour of having a position to maintain.
Having approached and knocked on every door in the NHS, you become aware that few people accept whistleblowing with open arms. Most will never accept it because whistleblowing reminds them of an element of truth in their cosmetic world.
My failure to accept the lack of accountability is quite obvious. I suspect that is the reason I set out to hold people accountable in a small way. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I find most MPs ineffective, I find authorities obstructive, I find people insensitive to the requirements of whistleblowers.
I find it unacceptable that my life was turned upside down due to the failure of various authorities to perform their function. Their failures as people and as a collective organisation where then blamed on me.
Various comments have been floated around about me, one of them is the word " tenacious". It is very easy for the failing system to blame the character of their whistleblower. The next sentence I hear is this " What do you want now, after 10 years". Well, how about some accountability in England?
Simply because a lot of fat cats in authority are unable to apply their minds to the serious failures in the UK, does not mean I should be a victim. Yes, I refuse to be a victim. I refuse to get depressed and I refuse to be like every other whistleblower in the UK. To the annoyance and the embarrassment of the Department of Health, I haven't gone away either. I don't believe there is a any reason I should accept the victim mould I am supposed to be in.My survival instincts are too good for that.
I have to thank the General Medical Council for toughening me up. My years of skirmishes with them have taught me how to approach matters in a tactical way. I have changed from the year 2000 when I was a very young frightened junior doctor with little knowledge of how anything worked. I still hold onto the values I did then. I think the GMC teaches you to be a survivor because if you can survive their tactics, you can survive anything. I have to admit that in the year 2002, I had discovered how much the GMC had kicked me.
I suspect if you get kicked enough, you stand up and kick back and gradually the quality of kicking gets better. To a certain extent, I compete with the intellect of the GMC. Beating them in various arguments or losing is a learning point for me. The GMC will deny many things but they are aware that they have made small changes to the system following their contact with me. The organisation has not improved to a great extent yet but I always live in the hope that it will be work for patients and doctors alike. Hope is such an innocent concept for all of us. I fear deserting it because I will then have to accept the status quo and I am not willing to do that. I am not willing to accept that organisations cannot change for the better.
Perhaps even after all this time, I fail to accept that large numbers of people can die on a ward and no one understands the implications such a failure to record death rates. It is such a simple concept yet recording death rate on a ward to monitor the quality of clinical care is not something understood by any authority. Perhaps, there is a failure to understand this concept properly. Afterall, if it was understood, they would find out how many people the system kills in the UK. Perhaps that would not be the done thing.
I have learned about the system. I have learned about the Common Purpose methodology used to subvert important issues. I have learned to hone my skills to win most arguments. I have learned many things and often the amount of work needed to deal with whistleblowing issues makes you feel you may spontaneously combust anytime. It hasn't happened to me yet and it probably won't. Nevertheless, despite the obstructive nature of authorities, organisations, Members of Parliament and the House of Lords, I don't believe whistleblower should ever give up. At least, I never have.
My inspiration often comes from those who have fought longer and harder battles than me. Arpad Toth and Will Powell continue to teach me many things about the future, the past, of accountability and survival. They have also taught me that the truth is worth fighting for because to desert it would mean that I was indeed a failure. Perhaps my fear is that I will accept the status quo and not fight for all the principles that are important in life.
The concept of "Hope" is a great thing. It keeps all of us moving forward on a journey to protect the truth and the innocent belief that the world can and should be a better place. Children are often better protectors of the truth than adults. Most adults spend a great proportion of their time maintaining their place in society and embellishing the truth. Those who climb up the greasy pole to the heady heights of position and power often desert the idea of protecting the truth in favour of having a position to maintain.
Having approached and knocked on every door in the NHS, you become aware that few people accept whistleblowing with open arms. Most will never accept it because whistleblowing reminds them of an element of truth in their cosmetic world.
1 comments:
I, like you, Dr Pal was a 'whistleblower' way back in the 70's again in the 80's and once more last year. The context was somewhat less critical than yours but in some ways similar; the 'messenger' invariably gets shot!
Trouble is you can't stop doing it when your integrity says something is so wrong. I lost a career and a lot of people I thought were my friends became strangers and worse; some became enemies. It is lonely and sometimes extremely depressing. If I had been less critical, more prepared to compromise my sense of righteous indignation I would have been richer and more well placed to stand the outrageous fortune that presents to somone close to retirement. But I would likely have been less of person than I am now.
I know who I am and I cannot change and you come across as somone with that burning need to battle injustice wherever you see it without regard for yourself. Keep doing it, you are a shining light to me and many others in a dark and often hostile world. I often find that reading your words is the thing that urges me onwards, however difficult the terrain of life becomes. Accept my heartfelt thanks and no doubt those of many others that you are what you are.
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