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Staffordshire Hospital debacle - is there an alternative to 'learning the lessons'?

Author: Paul Filed under:

18 Mar 2009

Whether its Mid Staffordshire hospital or Child P, the only thing that politicians and bureaucrats seem to be able to say is that ‘lessons will be learnt’. The problem is that learning the lessons will involve more of the same policies that drove Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust to ignore its patients in the first place: More targets to make sure that the latest ‘lessons’ really are being learnt and more pressure to become more commercially successful and market driven.

Hearing these tired lines being rolled out yet again really is painful. The record is so worn that even the politicians seem to sense that given the complexity of our systems and the fact that 'stuff happens' it will only be a matter of time before they are wearily appearing on the Today programme or Newsnight telling us - again - that lessons will be learnt. Is there an alternative to this. Well, yes, it’s called listening - really listening - to patients, families and staff. Sounds almost as Pollyanna-ish as Alan Johnson doesn't it? So what's changed? After all when did you last hear a patient say ‘please can I fill in another survey?' or 'Can I please come to lots of focus groups?'

What’s different is the economics of the web: cheap public voice, our increasing ability here at Patient Opinion to identify the 'thoughtfully passionate' people who, with recent experience of a service, really want to help change it, and easy tools that promote collaboration - that’s what has changed. Which doesn’t mean we've all caught up with he possibilities yet, but they sure are more interesting and likely to delivery better care right across the NHS than one more heave at 'learning lessons'.

What might this mean for the “appalling care” identified by the Healthcare Commission at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust? Well, here are recent three stories that we have published about the trust: Last week: Good care: no complaints. Three weeks ago: Mixed care; worries about cleanliness persist; includes response from the hospital Last month: worries about short staffing persist: But the web offers much more than timely, human stories that get beyond the spin. Cheap voice means cheap ways to collectivise wisdom. Done thousands of times, day in day, out this, the web gives us the new ways to really listen to patients that we need. Then perhaps we'd see the lessons that patients and front line staff saw years ago at Stafford and they could have enough traction against institutional and government pressures to get something done. The NHS may not have caught up with the web but the web is certainly catching up with the NHS.

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Comments

Karen

3/20/2009 4:36:37 PM #

You've missed out the place of local groups in the whole picture. It's not just down to individual patients. There are many groups at local level of people trying to improve, plan and monitor services - especially within mental health for example. But these groups often get sidelined or ignored. Can Patient Opinion (or the web) help those groups to develop and be more effective? For example, would or could you encourage local groups to respond to postings as well as the service providers?

Julie-Ann

3/28/2009 8:29:41 PM #

Unfortunately, a lot of the issues raised by the Staffordshire patients regularly appear in hospital complaints. I feel strongly that the sooner the NHS moves away from the 'Lessons Learned' mentality of waiting for something to go wrong before doing something about it, and concentrates a bit more on 'Sharing Best Practice' then we will unfortunately see more'Staffordshire' situations coming to the fore.
The sharing of best practice is where Patient Opinion can really come to the fore, by allowing organisations to target specific service areas to see what service users, their carers and relatives are really feeling and experiencing. Only then can we truly focus on sharing the good practice and improving where things could have been better.
The NHS will ignore this powerful and constructive vehicle at its peril.

sarah

4/17/2009 6:55:10 PM #

some of Staffordshire's problems seemed to be due to understaffing, which is something I have noticed myself when relatives were in hospital. Nurses doing their best but with too much to do and no extra capacity to cope with the unexpected. Who decides what is needed? Is that something the gmc or nmc could recommend on? You'd imagine some professional body should flag up concerns if 40 patients had two nurses or there was no experienced surgeon available. It should be noticed, and not just by individuals. Are there any recommended minimum numbers of qualified nurses and doctors for different types of wards ?

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