Health Minister Anne Pryke at yesterday’s press conference with Health acting chief executive Richard Jouault (standing) and Verita’s Julian Woolfson, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, Ed Marsden and Derek Mechen Picture: TONY PIKE (00882486)
A FEAR of speaking out, a culture of cover-ups and a lack of common purpose between doctors and civil servants have all been alleged in the damning Health report.
Further claims that too many patients are being referred to the Hospital because GPs make money from referrals, and that consultants have an ‘unhelpful rivalry’ over doing private work have also been made.
During their investigations into the death of former staff nurse Elizabeth Rourke, independent consultants Verita found that many of the people they interviewed made serious allegations about how the Hospital and Health Department were being run.
Verita felt that some of the claims were so serious that they compiled a secondary report highlighting some of the most serious allegations and recommended that further investigations be launched.
Article posted on 2nd February, 2010 - 2.59pm
39 Article Comments
This will not come as a surprise to many on this Isle.
I have to ask, is there any part of this Island that is governed and run in an acceptable and professional manner?
Week after week we move from one States dept to another and find a culture of cover-up, needless spending, people afraid to speak out fo fear of recrimination……… And so often than not, the front page news is how wonderful and example setting this Island is….
When is enough, enough? What will it take for people to FINALLY say, “I’ve had enough of this culture of greed-is-good, how can we change it?”
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It looks like Senetor Syvret was right after all! No wonder they conspired to get rid of him!!
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conspiracies?!? cover ups?!? this cannot be – surely not on jersey – but, but does this really mean Stuart Syvret was right all along?
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Aren’t we all thoroughly sick and tired of all these management levels and the corresponding decline of safety,service,and trust…noses in troughs..or what,who will be iron man enough on this island to really tackle what is a culture of easy wages,security,and the customer comes last. and we do not need to go outside again, we could have had someone like Gerard Baudains if they hadn’t of muscled him out for being honest,and that’s what we are up against,civil servants calling the shots when they should be carrying out the policies of the politicians.I’ll say it till someone listens,the tail is wagging the dog.this whole bloated civil service needs bringing to heel and stripping back and the politicians to crack the whip and show who’s in charge ,for at the moment they are puppets being manipulated and the exchequer is being milked to fund the charade,then all they’ll do is come back to us for even more taxes and some of us are on our knees already. STOP.
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This should be the catalyst for root and branch reform of the health service and its management.
After that we can move on to the rest of the island establishment.
This island needs to start to accept that there can be principled, constructive criticism.
Currently any suggestion that we do not live in the best place in the world is treated as pretty much akin to treason.
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This is so appalling that a further major investigation should be commenced ,looking at the management failings at H&SS that led to this travesty.Also how can the Acting Chief Executive of H&SS sit throughput this ,when he was also part of the previous senior management team.? The Minister for H&SS must sort this out.
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Let us hope the unfortunate loss of life is not in vain. The Verita findings and evidence leading to the allegations of structural abuse of the referral system & management shortcomings need to be addressed with speed. Let us also hope the electorate and taxpayer stakeholders realise the failings which are at the core of this and other States departments.
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If only someone in the States had the courage to stand up & criticise the failed senior management at H&SS earlier.
If only other States members had the integrity & courage to recognise & support the whistleblower.
If only blinkered groupthink engineered by unelected officials hadn’t been allowed to prevail.
If only patients care was taken as seriously as “undermining staff (senior management’s) morale”
He did speak out.
They didn’t support.
Groupthink did prevail.
Ssssh – Don’t talk about the last part – Let’s just look forward, learn the lessons, file the report. I think we got away with it. Sorted.
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Where was Syvret in all of this? Was his position of Health Minister just a made up job? I find it crass that we had a person in charge at the time who could of done something constructive to get proper staffing and raise moral of the hospital but ended up doing nothing.
Its really sad that they did not get somebody else more competant in charge at the time it really is.
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In the private sector, some people would be held responsible and sacked! So will the people responsible be dismissed? I do not think so! “Lessons will be learned” is all we are going to hear! The same story that we had with the incinerator! Senator Syvret got sacked for “bullying” those poor people!
We need other answers. Was Mr Pollard sacked and how much of tax money did he get to go without a fuss?
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Why is it being left to the current Health Minister to pick up the pieces and defend the Hospital and where is Syvret in all of this?
Oh I forgot, he is on holiday in London.
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Yes, I also agree, when Syvret was put in charge of Health the morale of the Hospital took a new low. Thank god this man will soon be out of politics, he is a flaming walking disaster.
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Rico #9 “I find it crass that we had a person in charge at the time who could of done something constructive to get proper staffing and raise the morale of the hospital but ended up doing nothing”
That is so unbelievably stupid it made me laugh out loud.
Pay attention Rico. Syvret was sacked from his ministerial position for raising the very concerns of mismanagement now proven to be true by Veritas. He refused to bow to the civil servants who then engineered his dismissal. His dismissal certainly raised their morale for a while!
I know it must hurt for you to have to accept it but try. Syvret was right.
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#11 “Why is it being left to the current Health Minister to pick up the pieces and defend the Hospital…”
derrr… cos it’s her job?!?
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Sadly the mess at Health and elsewhere in the States predates Anne Pryke, Stuart Syvret and in fact Ministerial government.
It is one of the symptoms of weak political control and an almost pathological inability to make decisions that characterised the old committee system and has been carried on with Ministerial government due to a complete failure to reform the system.
This report will join all the others criticising the mess that is our government in the no further action category and the muddle and failure will continue as usual.
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Rico #9
I’ll tell you where he is, he’s run away from his responsibility to the UK and stated unfair treatment by the CPS on a clear cut misdemeanour charge as an excuse to justify his action. Yet he’s still seen by some as a hero who uncovered all this. Strange place Jersey.
What’s never reported is the fact thousands of Islanders and foreigners are well and successfully treated by Health every single year. But that’s so common it’s not news or sensational.
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I think thst the way Terry Mcdonald has been treated is disgusting, he had an army of friends and supporters to clean up any fall out from the firework display either at the time of the event or as soon as any appeared in subsequent days, in any case, the rockets were bio- degradable so what was the problem,who pays for the clean up operation in London following their massive firework displays? One could be excused for thinking that Terry hes at sometime or another upset someone in authority, or someone had it in for him.
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And now Terry Le Sueur will tell us all that things ‘will be done’ whilst paying no heed to the Verita findings.
Verita are correct in everything they say. They interviewed staff and observed working practices to come to their conclusion.
No heads will roll, nothing will be done because this Islands government are spineless and unable to face the TRUTH.
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Syvret should of addressed the problem and not inflamed it like he did. I think the job was beyond him and even now he seems to think its not his fault, just like the Home Affairs Minister of the time over the Lenny Henry debacle.
In fact its a waste of time having these ministers if they cannot shoulder any responsibility. Talk about passing the buck all the time.
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Well done Verita for a good, honest and easy to read report and well done M Perchardfor appointing them.
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This ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ attitude is worth investigating. No backs to be scratched anymore without public knowledge.
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Rico #19
Contrast and compare.
Syvret – a carpenter by trade – was in the post of Health Minister for just 10 months when Mrs Rourke died. He was not a health professional and he claims that he was being lied to by the management. Contrary to your assertion, he did tackle the issue when he realised there was one. Guess what happened, his sacking was engineered by the very people he was tackling. Now you (and others) are blaming him for the management problems!?!
Conversely, Terry Le Sueur – an accountant – was Treasury Minister for 4 years when his civil servents messed up the exchange rate costing you and me millions. He did not claim that is staff lied to him. It happened on his watch and it was within his field of expertise. Guess what happened to him; nothing, nada, ziltch, no blame, not culpable.
I am surprised you cannot see the blindingly obvious.
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Pip 15
You get to the root of the problem again.
The civil servants are the defacto masters of the States, not our elected politicians. Take a straw poll; how often is it that it is the civil service director who is in le limelight and not his political master. Far too often!
Stuart Syvret, for all his faults, was not well served by is civil servants. They may not have liked some of his policies, fair enough, but that was a matter for the States camber and not the back stairs.
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Jon, Terry Le Sueur is a professionally qaulified person with a heart and Syvret is the opposite. If the job was too much for him then he should of resigned from the post before being pushed, the Council of Ministers would of understood.
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Rico, I assume that you are being wilfully blind to the comparison I used and accordingly it exposes you as someone who’s opinion is not worth reading.
If you are not being wilfully blind then there is only one other explanation for your failure to compare and contrast the two factual examples.
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#24 “professionally qaulified person” Since his profession isn’t medicine this counts for nothing.
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Jon H, Terry Le Sueur is one of the most educated people in the states. His expertise have got us where we are today and the life we all enjoy in this humble little Island and thats a contrast to where Syvret is now and going…..
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Rico give it a rest! you are boring you pop up every where all ways the same attacking Stuart Syvret lets have something intelligent or constructive there are so many problems facing our Island
On the subject of the hospital how can the grossly incompetent senior Managers continue in post? they will now play a part in the internal investigation into there own disgraceful actions! appalling sack them all and give the public there confidence back in our Hospital and restore the moral of the majority of the decent hard working staff
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It is important to note that since Syvret was removed from the hospital, the management teams now get along. There was never anything incompetent about them, the report does not use the word, it was in fact the minister in charge of health that was incompetent, if you need to point the finger.
I agree we must move on but lets not forget that if a minister is put in charge and is not up to the job, these kind of things can end up happening.
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The Verita report has severely criticised senior managers at Health for management failings that contributed to the avoidable death of a patient undergoing routine surgery.
The very same managers that were responsible for these failings are also the managers who were responsible for the 3 year suspensions of Mr Day.
Bearing in mind that the report also vindicates John Day from the malicious accusations made against him at the manslaughter trial of Dr Moyano, is it not only right and proper that the the behaviour and motives of senior health managers should be the subject of serious questioning?
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Rico 29
Hi I must presume that Rico is a Hospital Employee his in depth knowledge of Hospital affairs proves this, how else does he know the Management now gets on since Syvret was forced out, is that why Pollard was sacked/resigned prior to the Verita report which features gross management incompetence get real Rico!!
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‘Jon H, Terry Le Sueur is one of the most educated people in the states. His expertise have got us where we are today and the life we all enjoy in this humble little Island and thats a contrast to where Syvret is now and going…..’
It is comforting to think that a qualified accountant is presiding over a situation where we have gone from money coming out of our ears to a structural deficit of £50M that will require either a 10% cut in expenditure or raising GST to 12%.
If Terry le Sueur was a surgeon I would never let him operate on anyone
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The reason behind Verita’s comment about the culture of rivalry appears to have been lost on this thread.
They were referring to the way private practice by hospital consultants affects the services provided to those of us who either choose not to or cannot afford to pay to see a hospital doctor privately.
Private medical practice is a canker in the Jersey health service that distorts waiting lists, access to services, professional practice and quality of care.
An urgent and in-depth investigation into the effects of private practice on the public service should be initiated forthwith.
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gross misconduct 33.
Exactly! In other words, you get what you pay for…and what you don’t pay for, you simply don’t get!
I’m sure that most people have read the Verita report, but to those who haven’t, I suggest you do.
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‘A culture of cover-up and rivalry’ occurs in most public sector organisations. There is a system in place that prohibits employees from the the lower echelons whistlblowing direct to their political masters.
Whistleblowing within an organisation results in an inquiry where it is proclaimed that, “No stone will be left unturned.” This often means it will be a whitewash with management investigating the wrongdoing of management. Nothing ever happens to the culprits and the whistleblower is often subjected to bullying to the point where he or she is forced to resign.
There needs to be an Independent States Professional Standards Department to look into allegations of mismanagement, otherwise problems like this will just continue and we will be reading about a similar occurrence in the future. There also needs to be safeguards to protect the rights of whistleblowers.
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Pip Clement # 32. Don’t forget you can have highly educated people who have little or no common sense. I am sure there are many people on the Island who saw this financial crisis looming, but the so called experts just didn’t listen.
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Anyone who attacks bully-groups ‘Lone-ranger’ style (but without the mask and Tonto by his side) will gallop straight into trouble!
Therefore, as Blue Knight says, those who have the courage to report blameworthy behaviour need the protection of an Independent Inquiry Committee…otherwise, reporting wrongdoers through the established channels is tantamount to committing Hara-kiri.
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The ‘Jersey Way’ lives on!
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I worked for Health. I made a compain to my mamager regarding bullying. At the earliest opportunity ( befor the employment law came into force) I was forced into a corner where i ended up resigning. I spoke to Syvret on a number of occasions and whilst he agreed, he could do nothing. Quite frankly, Syvret included, they are all as bad as each other, and if your face doesnt fit or you can ve used as a scapegoat so shall it be. For my post at health, they paid a locum for a year, over the going salary plus accomodation to prove a point. Whilst departments are allowed to do this there will always be coverups and overspend.
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