Protection for whistleblowers
We must ensure that NHS professionals
are not afraid to blow the whistle when they see neglect, indifference and poor care and are unable to make their managers take notice. This is the only way we can prevent tragedies like mid-Staffordshire. We need:
1. A direct confidential whistleblower line to the Care Quality Commission, who must then have investigators who can take up concerns.
2. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 tightened up to ensure that whistleblowers do not suffer for raising legitimate concerns. At the moment it is not working.
3. The Council for Regulatory Excellence (which regulates the regulators) to be able to appeals sanctions that are too harsh, such as striking off Nurse Margaret Haywood. Currently they are limited to over-lenient sanctions!
Medical records
We have always believed that confidential medical records should only be uploaded to the new electronic database with written consent from the patient, once (s)he has had the opportunity of checking a copy of the record for errors.We also believe that patients must have the right to opt out completely if they wish.
When the system began in pilot areas this year, the records of those who did not opt out were uploaded without any explicit consent and could be viewed by any health professional with a smart card. Patient Concern voiced strong objections both in the press and to the House of Commons Health Comittee, saying that many patients would have no idea what was happening and that 'presumed consent' is no consent at all. Now the organisers have been forced to think again and have made some improvements. The system is now less objectionable - though far from ideal. (See What's New) Save our beds
We believe that it is necessary to fight any threats to reduce the number of hospital beds, though government think-tanks keep telling us that we need fewer beds. Patients who have had their operations postponed two or three times would certainly not agree that we have too many.
No-one wants to stay in hospital if it can be avoided but talk of more ‘care in the community' is unrealistic until we have a vastly improved community care structure and far more staff. Access to GPs
We believe that patients must have free access to the GP of their choice and the right to choose a convenient time for non-urgent appointments. In setting the target that patients must be able to see a GP within 48 hours the government did not realise that the result would be that GPs would come up with all sorts of ways to manipulate the system. Many doctors chose to reach this target by no longer allowing patients to book in advance, making it almost impossible for patients to visit the doctor they have known and trusted for years.
Though the Department of Health has had some success in clamping down on this, in many surgeries advance appointments are still a rarity. Complaints procedure
We believe that any NHS complaints system must have teeth and must provide complainants with a right to an independent investigation of serious issues. Both are absent from the current system and this needs to be remedied. Unresolved complaints now go to the Ombudsman who will only be willing to investigate if the body complained about has acted 'unreasonably' and the Ombudsman's office 'is likely to achieve a worthwhile outcome'. If a complaint cannot be upheld because the medical notes are lost or they find it impossible to reconcile the account given by the patient with the account given by staff then that, it seems, is the end of the matter. We believe that there should be a system of deciding who is telling the truth (e.g. the independent panels we were promised years ago) and sanctions (e.g. stiff fine) when notes are lost. Access to medical records
We believe that patients have an absolute right to view and obtain copies of their health records. This access should be free and uncensored. It is not good enough that we have to wait up to 40 days, pay up to £50, and then find that doctors have removed anything they consider ‘harmful' to us. Any inaccuracies should be corrected, with a note to say when and why the alterations was made. Organ donation
We believe that the proposal backed by Gordon Brown and the BMA for an ‘opt-out scheme', so that doctors can remove organs from any patient declared dead unless they have registered their objection, must be resisted. Organ donation is a generous gift. It is not an obligation. For the moment it has been put on the back burner but it will not go away. We must ensure that the government puts in place the systems we need to boost organ transplants - more transplant co-ordinators, more intensive care beds, more organ retrieval teams, more public awareness. This is the way to ensure that people do not die for the want of transplants - not state requisition of our organs. Struck off
We have battled for years to give patients struck off a GPs list the right to know the reason. Under the new GP contract, which came into force in April 2004, this happened at last. But this is only the beginning. We believe that patients must also have the right to call on independent mediation in these circumstances. There is little point in knowing the ‘reason' if you have no opportunity to put your side of the case. [home] [about us] [campaigns] [publications] [whats new] [contact us] |
