On Friday the latest edition of the BMJ was posted through our front door. The headline in capitals and in bold was ‘ALARMS IGNORED’. This edition of the journal explored what the ‘Letby case reveals about major institutional failures’.
Institutions, both NHS and professional, must make a conscious effort not to immediately act defensively to any suggestion that something may be going wrong. Repeated experience indicates that they are not currently successful in this as described in this BMJ editorial:
My own personal experience, before I retired as an NHS psychiatrist, has been in attempting to share concerns in relation to safety issues associated with psychiatric interventions. I found that the response from the Royal College of Psychiatrists was to do everything it could to ignore my concerns. I am aware that I am far from alone in this experience with the college.
Yes, it’s truly frightening the power and control of NHS management whom know nothing of health and healing but balancing the books. Interestingly, I went to the RCPych in London to meet with someone who could explain to me why an 18 year old girl in Inverness had her nose broken during restraint by NHS nurses and why the complaints procedure is utterly useless as psychiatric patients testimonial is deemed unreliable.
Surely it is damning evidence that the Royal College of Psychiatrists has made no official response to the Cumberlege Review: First Do No harm.
Yes it’s appalling but unfortunately I’m not surprised. These people are at best unconscious and at worst very dangerous.