RCPE Press Release
25 February 2013
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RCPE WARNS NHS HAS LOST FOCUS & MID STAFFORDSHIRE DEATHS RISK BEING REPEATED IN ANY HOSPITAL
Writing in an editorial published today (25 February 2013), the President and Vice Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) have issued a stark warning that the NHS has lost its focus and problems encountered in Mid Staffordshire have the potential to occur in any hospital under pressure [1].
In the editorial, they state –
- “let us be under no illusion that the problems encountered in Mid Staffordshire were a localised, or isolated, happening. The contributing circumstances have the potential for this to occur in any hospital under pressure, and leave no room for complacency”;
- “the lessons learned here are too important to ignore, must be acted upon and result in cultural change to avoid repetition. If we do not, we will have failed the patients whose best interests we claim to represent”;
- “the practice of identifying a senior clinician who is in charge of a patient’s case should not be a matter for local hospitals to consider and discount; instead this should be enshrined in national standards. Clearly, this will require moving towards a consultant presence seven days per week, over an extended working day, and this will have to be taken into account by workforce planners”;
- “it is also all too evident from the Inquiry report and our experience of working within the NHS that many clinicians feel disengaged from management and are concerned that their clinical advice regarding best treatment for patients can be over-ruled by non-clinical managers. As such, we believe there is a pressing need to address the disconnect which has emerged and to improve clinical engagement with management”;
- “it is a sad irony that in the resource-constrained NHS a range of policy imperatives designed to make the NHS more patient-centred have regrettably measured activity and throughput rather than quality and contributed to a culture in which quality of care is not encouraged, supported or valued. This must change”;
- “if we are serious about driving up standards it is clear there is a need to give patients a louder, more systematised voice which would tell us what we need to know about our performance at the institutional level before it started to seriously fail”; and
- “we believe the NHS has lost its focus, that now is the time for the NHS to re-commit to the central importance of high quality care, and to foster a culture in which the delivery of this care is placed above all else. Nothing less than this is required to give patients the care and respect which they need to receive and we need to deliver.”
The editorial also reveals a range of planned actions in response to the Francis Report, and the inter-related problems in the acute medical specialties, including the RCPE’s intention to establish a confidential standards “hot line” by which its members witnessing poor quality care that is resistant to local change can raise concerns.
Dr Neil Dewhurst, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said,
“The Mid Staffordshire Inquiry report made harrowing and depressing reading for all with an interest in standards of care and presents a litany of failings which occurred at all levels. While patients should be reassured that there is much high quality care provided by the NHS, there is potential for the events in Mid Staffordshire to be repeated in any hospital in Scotland or the UK. We must not allow this to happen. In recent years, the NHS has lost its focus and there is a need to re-commit to the central importance of high quality care”.
Contact: Graeme McAlister on 0131-247-3693 or 07733-263453
ENDS
Notes to Editors
[1]. “Time to refocus the NHS on quality and dignity of patient care: RCPE response to Mid Staffordshire”, The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 25 February 2013 (advance online publication), Dr Neil Dewhurst (President), Dr Mike Jones (Vice President), Dr John Wilson (Vice President).
The RCPE
The RCPE is a professional membership organisation for doctors, primarily working in the hospital sector, which seeks to improve the quality of patient care and patient safety. We do this through a range of standard-setting activities including education, examinations and training. We also advocate the development of evidence-based, and informed, health policy and ensure the views and practical experiences of doctors are represented in discussions with others including government. We have over 12,000 members throughout Scotland, the UK and worldwide.
www.rcpe.ac.uk
