The true price of accountability

Kay Sheldon is a name which ought to be familiar to all of us but I doubt if it is. To her eternal credit, she is the lady who blew the whistle on the culture of denial at Stafford Hospital. In any walk of life, it takes great courage to question those in authority. The NHS is reputed to be second only to the Indian National Railway as the largest employer in the world. This gives a good perspective of the scale of her achievement. It is her claim that the risk of victimisation awaits those who challenge poor care in the NHS. It is amazing to consider that she felt that she was just trying to do her job properly by acting with integrity and honesty. I believe she should be held up as a role model for aspiring NHS employees be they doctors, nurses or any of the other associated professions.

Sadly, the reality is that she probably won't be reappointed to the ill fated Quality Care Comission after the results of the inquiry are made known. The fact is that in common with many bastions of the public sector in the UK today, empire builders find cosy little nests in which to roost safe in the knowledge that they are answerable and accountable to nobody. Sure, they can put on a show when the inspectors arrive but normal service resumes in due course. I researched life in a Victorian lunatic asylum two years ago, and, strangely enough, I found the same practices going on there. It is safe to assume little has changed then in the intervening century and a half.  It makes me wonder who the real lunatics are.

For the public sector in this country to finally shake off their long held persona of empire builders and jobs worths, they will need to show transparency, accountability and integrity. Had they done so, baby P, Victoria Climbie and Stafford Hospital to name but a few, would never have happened. This lady ought to be promoted to a position of a real authority with the brief of weeding out the NIMBYs and empire builders because the life of just one innocent patient is too high a price to pay. Trust is earned and earned over long periods of time. During my sales career before my change of direction to medicine, I learned that you can get it right ninety-nine times and nobody will ever remember. But the one time you get it wrong, nobody forgets. When you get it wrong and the it costs a life, nobody will ever forget.

Well done Kay Sheldon. You are a brave lady going against the grain in a jaundiced culture of self preservation and for that, I salute you.