I've just been listening to File on 4 on Radio 4. See File on 4. If you missed it, you may like to listen to the repeat on Sun 24 Jan 2010 at 17:00.
"In 2009, 2,445 cases, including allegations of police brutality, deaths in custody and serious negligence, were referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. But is it truly independent, and does its record over five years encourage public confidence? Gerry Northam investigates."
Having listened to the programme I was shocked at the bias shown by the IPCC. It seems clear to me that investigations of 'police brutality, deaths in custody and serious negligence' don't have a snowball's chance in Hell of being investigated fairly by the IPCC, especially headed as it is by Nick Hardwick, who appears lacking in deductive reasoning, to put it as kindly as possible.
Clearly complaints about police negligence are dealt with as partially as complaints about medical negligence. I reckon we'd be safer without the IPCC, just as I know we'd be safer without the NHS Complaints Procedures and without the General Medical Council. None of these august and expensive bodies can be trusted to tell the truth and to protect the members of the general public when powerful people like the police and the medical profession abuse their power in their dealings with the people they are paid to serve.
Showing posts with label Complaints system. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Complaints system. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Complaining about NHS treatment adds further difficulties for complainants. - Susan Hodges and Richard Murphy lost their baby at birth.
'Why could no one tell us why our son died at birth?'
Extract:
"Nearly two years after their baby son Oliver died soon after he was born, Susan Hodges and Richard Murphy are still waiting to have questions answered. They have found their dealings with one of London's flagship NHS trusts perplexing and frustrating. Straightforward questions about what went so terribly wrong in the crucial minutes leading up to his birth have gone unanswered.
However, their experience of hitting a 'complaints brick wall' is not uncommon. More than 100,000 complaints were received by the NHS last year, with an increasing proportion going to independent panels because of dissatisfaction with the responses from hospital trusts or primary care trusts.
Despite government promises to overhaul the complaints system, the issue has now fallen even further down the list of priorities. The plan is to create a single system for dealing with complaints about both healthcare and social care, but instead of introducing reforms quickly, the government has embarked on a new consultation, which will begin in April. Officials have said there is no plan to introduce new reforms until 2009. By then, another 200,000 people will have been caught up in the complaints system."
"The campaign group Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has been calling for years for reform of NHS complaints procedures to be speeded up. Peter Walsh, its chief executive, said: 'Far too many people are trapped in a system which is unwieldy and slow, and very often insensitive to their needs. Our view is that however complicated the complaint, no trust should take more than six months to fully investigate and respond to the individuals.'"
The Healthcare Commission should be remedying this situation, which has been going on for as long as there have been complaints about NHS care, i.e. for decades. It is a national scandal.
Extract:
"Nearly two years after their baby son Oliver died soon after he was born, Susan Hodges and Richard Murphy are still waiting to have questions answered. They have found their dealings with one of London's flagship NHS trusts perplexing and frustrating. Straightforward questions about what went so terribly wrong in the crucial minutes leading up to his birth have gone unanswered.
However, their experience of hitting a 'complaints brick wall' is not uncommon. More than 100,000 complaints were received by the NHS last year, with an increasing proportion going to independent panels because of dissatisfaction with the responses from hospital trusts or primary care trusts.
Despite government promises to overhaul the complaints system, the issue has now fallen even further down the list of priorities. The plan is to create a single system for dealing with complaints about both healthcare and social care, but instead of introducing reforms quickly, the government has embarked on a new consultation, which will begin in April. Officials have said there is no plan to introduce new reforms until 2009. By then, another 200,000 people will have been caught up in the complaints system."
"The campaign group Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has been calling for years for reform of NHS complaints procedures to be speeded up. Peter Walsh, its chief executive, said: 'Far too many people are trapped in a system which is unwieldy and slow, and very often insensitive to their needs. Our view is that however complicated the complaint, no trust should take more than six months to fully investigate and respond to the individuals.'"
The Healthcare Commission should be remedying this situation, which has been going on for as long as there have been complaints about NHS care, i.e. for decades. It is a national scandal.
Saturday, 20 January 2007
BLOODY-MINDED - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
BLOODY-MINDED
Of course, my blood’s the wrong size, you know. It keeps slipping down and getting clogged up in my feet.
And then there’s my skin: there’s bits missing. And it’s not the regulation thickness.
You’d think they’d get the basics right, wouldn’t you? They couldn’t organise a booze-up in a brewery.
“I want the standard size blood,” I said. I told ‘em. “I pay my taxes like anybody else.”
“The Complaints Department is on the tenth floor,” she said. “There is no lift. All complaints must be made in triplicate, witnessed by a J.P. and certified by a Commissioner for Oaths. There is a small charge for this service.”
“What’re you on about?” I said. I told ‘er. Made it clear, I did. - And about not getting the normal issue skin. And the bones which have got gaps in. - You can’t let them get away with it, can you?
What did she do? you’re wondering. – Well just then I passed out because of lack of blood to my head. Came to outside the building with a piece of paper pinned on my left shoulder. It was a duplicated standard form J/7938/A/A. It said that my complaint was out of time, and that anyway complaints could only be made between the hours of 8.45a.m. and 9 a.m. and only on the fourth Thursday of the month. Furthermore they’d had no other complaints about faulty bodies; p’r’aps it was really my brain that was faulty, and that was a different department, and not covered by the guarantee in any case.
Margaret Wilde ©1990
Of course, my blood’s the wrong size, you know. It keeps slipping down and getting clogged up in my feet.
And then there’s my skin: there’s bits missing. And it’s not the regulation thickness.
You’d think they’d get the basics right, wouldn’t you? They couldn’t organise a booze-up in a brewery.
“I want the standard size blood,” I said. I told ‘em. “I pay my taxes like anybody else.”
“The Complaints Department is on the tenth floor,” she said. “There is no lift. All complaints must be made in triplicate, witnessed by a J.P. and certified by a Commissioner for Oaths. There is a small charge for this service.”
“What’re you on about?” I said. I told ‘er. Made it clear, I did. - And about not getting the normal issue skin. And the bones which have got gaps in. - You can’t let them get away with it, can you?
What did she do? you’re wondering. – Well just then I passed out because of lack of blood to my head. Came to outside the building with a piece of paper pinned on my left shoulder. It was a duplicated standard form J/7938/A/A. It said that my complaint was out of time, and that anyway complaints could only be made between the hours of 8.45a.m. and 9 a.m. and only on the fourth Thursday of the month. Furthermore they’d had no other complaints about faulty bodies; p’r’aps it was really my brain that was faulty, and that was a different department, and not covered by the guarantee in any case.
Margaret Wilde ©1990
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