Inquiry followed inquiry and , who knows, maybe we'd still know nothing about these horrors had it not been for Julie Bailey
Julie Bailey and her family stayed with
Bella for the next eight weeks and what they saw during those eight
weeks left them determined to do something about the appalling care that
they witnessed, “What we saw horrified us”, said Julie Bailey in 2007
on her first interview after leaving the hospital.
Following her mother’s death, Julie first
contacted the hospital to alert them to her concerns about the
vulnerable patients that remained in the hospital and their lack of
care. Whilst in the hospital the family had written a letter to the CEO
Martin Yeates, telling him the hospital was a dangerous place but had
received no response.
But this only made Cure the NHS more
determined to get the public inquiry. For two years Cure the NHS
followed health Ministers and MP’s all over the country, standing in
wind, snow and rain determined that the NHS needed examining. The only
way they felt that could be done was with a full Public Inquiry under
the Inquiries Act 2005.
They finally got their inquiry in 2011, when a Conservative Government was elected and appointed Robert Francis to chair this 2nd
inquiry. The report was published in 2013 and Robert Francis concluded
that “the NHS failure had extended to every level of the NHS, from the
trust board to the regulators, the health authority and the Department
of Health”.
The 'report' was published in, well it must have been around February 2013, because that's when so many press accounts were published. Note, this is just FIVE MONTHS after we got the Savile 'scandal' inflicted on us !
1200 deaths have been attributed to 'failings' at the Trust. 1200 ?
I naturally wondered if civil claims had been - quite rightly, lodged on behalf of the victims. I find no sign of Slater and Gordon (before their time perhaps, or was it just way too complex for them, not a fast enough turn around - who knows ?). But, one of our favourite ambulance chasers was in there.
Following protracted meetings with Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust the Human Rights team at Leigh Day & Co ensured compensation totalling over £1.2m was paid out to those whose family members experienced ill-treatment at Stafford Hospital and most importantly, each of those affected received a personal apology from the new chief executive of the Trust.
What's £1.2m divided by 113 ?
The 'long-awaited report' cost £9,000,000
The £13 million review of what went wrong will suggest hospitals that cover up mistakes by doctors and poor treatment of patients should face fines and possible closure.
'Fines and possible closure' ? How the hell would that help anyone ? The people wanted individual responsibility, not measures that would harm more people. Closing hospitals ? Give me strength !
Is this geezer still in charge of the Trust ? Please tell me he isn't
By June 2013 the powers that be were getting sick of the ever increasing financial burden being placed upon the NHS budgets, once the compensation gates opened.
ONE FIFTH of the TOTAL NHS budget ? What ?
What's £5.5m divided by 197 ?
'starved to death .. dying people left to scream in pain' ? You know, I KNOW that the former is true, I've seen evidence of it with my own eyes.
Margaret Hodge calling a spade, a spade - told it like it is/was, hopefully, always won't be
More than £1bn was spent on settlements last year, but around one quarter of costs are spent on legal fees, mainly to claimants’ lawyers under a “no-win, no fee” system which means legal firms can charge up to £900 an hour for their services if claims are successful.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10093091/NHS-negligence-claims-rise-by-20-per-cent-in-just-one-year.html
By November, even the Daily Mail was getting sick of the ambulance chasers pocketing the lion's share of the booty.
Hold your breath for the next bit folks - some hack actually wrote this a year after Savile began
The startling compensation figures have raised fresh concerns over the tactics employed by lawyers who tout for NHS negligence cases.
Using the controversial ‘no-win, no fee’ system, they entice the vulnerable with slick sales pitches on TV adverts.
If they win, they demand costs of up to £900 an hour, which they justify as their reward for taking a risk.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2494232/Mid-Staffs-scandal-Lawyers-grab-HALF-victim-payouts-in.html
Back in March 2013, the PM - David Cameron response to the Mid-Staffs revelations was ... wait for it - to set up a 'panel'
Last month, as the Francis report into the failings that led to the Mid Staffs scandal was published, the Prime Minister announced he had asked Prof Berwick to head up a panel “to make zero harm a reality in our NHS”.
His former gig was advisor to President Obama.
Prof Berwick is one of the foremost authorities on patient safety. For almost 20 years he headed the Institute for Health Improvements in the US, advising organisations domestically and throughout the world. He led the US president’s “Obamacare” reforms but in 2011 was forced to resign, in part for citing the NHS as “an example” for the US.
I'm seeing big money signs here. Big money for him that is ! Couldn't they find a British expert to handle this ? Wonder how he's doing ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9925745/My-cure-for-sick-NHS-by-David-Camerons-new-health-tsar-Don-Berwick.html
But, let's get away from cash for a few minutes. Indeed, let's get away with it completely as far as our almost wonderful health service is shall we ? Let's get back to them 1200 folk who may have died because a set of someone's don't really give a shit about your health or mine. The NHS is a mega big issue at the moment. People are angry as well they might be. My hat goes off to Allison Pearson for this corker of an article.
She's right isn't she ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9852897/Mid-Staffs-NHS-trust-Why-is-nobody-being-punished-for-this-disaster.html
Recall discovering once in my researches, that MRSA - the flesh-eating bug - was first identified as extant in the UK, at Stoke Mandeville. Surprised they've never blamed Jimmy for that too.
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