Tag Archives: DGHSC

Raised by the people of Scotland

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Crowd-funding is nothing new. The Martyrs’ monument was funded by public subscriptions to redress the events of 50 years previously when five Scots were transported for sedition. Their speaking up for the common people was judged by those in authority to be “wicked and felonious”.

The Foundation stone for the Martyrs’ Monument was laid on the 21st August 1844:

400 people attended the laying of the foundation stone. 183 years to the day later it happened to be five of us who gathered for a peaceful protest recognising the ongoing imbalance in power between those in high office and those in the general population.

Walter Humes, writing in Scottish Review, 21st September 2015:

President Obama put this in a slightly different way:

Our protest also happened to coincide with a solar eclipse. My particular experience with high office has related to my petition for a Sunshine Act for Scotland:

Surely one of the reasons that we commemorate the past is so that we can learn from it. The voices of the people really do matter.

‘The medical untouchables’

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The following is a recent opinion piece by Dr Des Spence published in the British Journal of General Practice.

I had been lined up to do the media interviews on BBC Scotland in relation to petition PE1651. However, on the day, due to changed travel arrangements, I was not available. Dr Des Spence was interviewed instead and did a better job than I could have done.

As an NHS doctor and specialist, I fully support this petition (PE1651) which calls on the Scottish parliament “to urge the Scottish Government to take action to appropriately recognise and effectively support individuals affected and harmed by prescribed drug dependence and withdrawal.”

I have submitted my response.

I feel it would be helpful to hear the views of the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland and in particular, how this matter might be considered as part of Realistic Medicine.

Three recent posts by me demonstrate the scale of competing financial interests in medical education in the UK. If you have a moment, you should have a look. Perhaps you might then share the worry that I have about this matter:

I have previously raised my own petition, PE1493, which the Scottish Public has supported. This was a petition for a Sunshine Act for Scotland, to make it mandatory for all financial conflicts of interest to be declared by healthcare professionals and academics.

My petition, supported by the public, had no support from “Realistic Medicine”. The public has had no update from the Scottish Government on my petition in 18 months. My view is that this is a shocking failure of governance and would seem to demonstrate a lack of respect for democracy.

We ignore them at our peril

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This recent Audit Scotland report was considered in the BMJ:

The Scotsman of the 1st August 2017 had this as the front-page story

The Scotsman Editor concluded: “The nurses surveyed are not scoring points or using the NHS as a political football. We ignore them at our peril”:

‘Official Interference’

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This is my reply to a blog that was posted in the Holyrood Magazine:

Thursday 13th July 2017

Dear Tom,
I read the blog post titled ‘Official Interference’ written by you in the Holyrood Magazine on the 7th July 2017.

It is welcome to see this matter considered further. I can be a bit slow on the uptake but I wasn’t entirely sure of the main points that you were trying to get across? I am not sure what you mean by “the real story” being about “accusations” of “subjectivity”? I am also not sure what Holyrood’s views may be on the necessary independence of report writers and the public accountability of civil servants?

Let me be entirely open. I have found my experience of communicating with senior civil servants working for the Department of Health and Social Care (DGHSC) most unsettling. In my communications I have put patients first. I have been a longstanding  advocate for ethical considerations in healthcare.

As a public servant (NHS doctor) I have been as open and transparent about my experiences as possible – and I have shared all that I can on my website Hole Ousia.

Over some years I have become aware that my personal experience of communication with senior civil servants has been shared by a significant number of others, many of whom have been labelled by DGHSC as “vexatious” or having a “grievance”.

DGHSC civil servants would seem to follow an approach that Prof Walter Hume described as familiar “the various techniques used by bureaucratic organisations to avoid responsibility when things go wrong: these include silence, delay, evasion, buck-passing and attempts to discredit complainants.”

Following the Times report by Helen Puttick and the subsequent report in the Scotsman, I compiled this blog-post:

Honesty and Openness: ‘not an edited official tale’

I should say that I am just an NHS doctor who has a number of interests and that I have neither any skills in politics nor in journalism. I am however interested in ethics and this includes consideration of the integrity of those who occupy positions of genuine power (such as elected politicians and publically paid senior civil servants).

On becoming First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon stated:

“I intend that we will be an open and accessible Government” (26th November 2014)

When giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament, the Director General for NHS Scotland, Paul Gray said:

“I think transparency in the NHS makes sense” (29 January 2014)

I would suggest that there is a growing public concern about senior civil servants working for the Scottish Government in terms of what they say and do.

The Commission on Parliamentary Reform’s “Report on the Scottish Parliament” published on the 20th June 2017 outlined steps that might help improve parliamentary approaches to ensuring necessary accountability of the Scottish Government. I have been made aware, for example, of a number of Petitions under review by the Scottish Parliament that may have been closed as a result of behind-closed-doors “advice” by senior civil servants working for the Scottish Government.

I will stop there Tom. No need to reply unless you so wish.

One closing point. It is most demoralising for hard-working NHS staff to hear repeatedly repeated, parrot-like, from Scottish Government “spokespeople” of “record NHS levels of staffing”. This fighting of reality is not helpful and suggests the sort of “subjectivity” that perhaps you were alluding to in your piece for the Holyrood Magazine?

I will be staging a peaceful protest (I am not party political) about the integrity of senior officials working for the Scottish Government this August at the Martyrs Monument.

Kind wishes,

Peter

Dr Peter J Gordon (writing in my own time and in a personal capacity)

Honesty and openness: ‘not an edited official tale’

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When Nicola Surgeon became First Minister of Scotland she said:

“I intend that we will be an open and accessible Government” (26 November 2014)

On the Front page of the Times of  the 7th July 2017 was a report by the Scottish Health Correspondent, Helen Puttick that outlined the considerable efforts, made behind closed doors, of senior civil servants working for the Scottish Government to “tone down” this Report by Audit Scotland.



Further pressure was made to influence the Audit Scotland Report:

In considering the findings of this FOI inquiry, the Editor of the Times said that “the public deserve to know the true story on NHS funding and not an edited official tale”

The Civil Service Code of Conduct for Scotland outlines these core values:

These core values are what the public should expect from its civil servants if they are to fulfil the intention of Scotland’s First Minister.

 


The Scottish Public: consulted on a Sunshine Act

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The Scottish public were consulted on the need for a Sunshine Act for Scotland. Their response, in majority, was that this was necessary.

Almost a year-and-a-half on and the Scottish Government has provided no update to the Scottish people. This is disappointing given the Scottish Government’s assertion that “everyone matters” to them.

The lack of sunshine legislation in the British Isles is raised in this current BMJ News feature:

This response was submitted by Vagish Kumar L Shanbhag:

freedom to speak

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The Director General for NHS Scotland:

  Peter's experience of the Director General for NHS Scotland

 

The Clinical Director of Healthcare Improvement Scotland:

     Peter's experience of the Clinical Director of HIS

 

The Director of Health and Social Care Integration:

Peter's experience of Director of Health & Social Care Integration

 

In my determination to put patients first I have been treated poorly.

These highly paid officials seem to be beyond accountability:

[I have always openly acknowledged that my view is no more important than any other. I am always careful to be clear in what cannot be said with any certainty. I am fully aware of my weaknesses.  I absolutely refute any charge that I am “vexatious”. I do not hold grievances. What matters to me is truth and fairness. I have found that the same cannot always be said of those in genuine positions of power]:

 

It can take courage to care. To resist the threats to your career and the misnaming:

 

Such abuse of power is not new:

 

You are invited to join me for this protest:

 

Would you like to join me?

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INVITATION:

This is an invitation to join me on a peaceful protest to be held on Monday 21st August 2017 at the Martyrs Monument, Calton Hill Burial Ground, Edinburgh.

WHAT THE PROTEST IS ABOUT:

It is a protest for anybody who has had difficulty communicating with high public office in Scotland. For some this may have been with the Scottish Government – but it need not relate to any particular institution.

This protest is for anybody who has felt that those in a genuine position of power may have acted unfairly.

Professor Walter Humes, writing in Scottish Review, 21st September 2015:

“For some time I have been copied into email exchanges concerning how complaints against public bodies are dealt with. I have no personal stake in any of the specific sources of concern (which include patient care in the NHS and responses by Police Scotland, the Scottish Government and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to requests for formal investigations). I do, however, have a long-standing interest in issues of public accountability and am familiar with the various techniques used by bureaucratic organisations to avoid responsibility when things go wrong: these include silence, delay, evasion, buck-passing and attempts to discredit complainants.”

THE FIRST MINISTER’S “INTENTION”:

The First Minister for Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said: “I intend that we will be an open and accessible Government” 26 November 2014

Prof Walter Humes, 21 September 2015:

“Those who hold high office in public bodies are very adept at defending their own interests. They may claim to support openness and transparency but those principles are not always translated into practice. Bureaucratic Scotland often falls short of the democratic ideals which are said to underpin civic life”

WHY GATHER AT THE MARTYRS’ MONUMENT:

This film by me, “The Friends of Liberty“, explains why the Martrys Monument has been chosen for this protest. The location is next to St Andrew’s House, the seat of the Scottish Government. The Martyrs Monument rises higher and has a wider view than St Andrew’s House. The Martyrs Monument was raised through public donations.

WHY the 21st of AUGUST ?:

Reason 1: The foundation stone of the Martyrs’ Monument was laid on this very day, 1844.

Reason 2: on the 21st August 2017 there will be a full solar eclipse (sometime just before 8pm) revealing the power of one orb over another and our shared need for light.

THE PERSONAL STORY MATTERS:

Here is my experience with Scottish Government. I have been, and continue to be, an active advocate for ethical considerations in all aspects of healthcare in NHS Scotland. I am proud of what I have done and of who I am.

So if you have your own story please come along and share it. Together we can make a difference.

Acknowledgement:
It was Mrs Chrys Muirhead who suggested the 21st August 2017 as 
date for this protest. Her enquiring mind had led her to find that 
this date was both an anniversary of the laying of the Martyrs 
Monument foundation stone and also the very day, in 2017, when 
a solar eclipse will occur.

 

 

 

Lifeboat NHS

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A film about freedom to speak up in NHS Scotland based on an edit of the evidence session of the Health and Sport Committee, Scottish Parliament, held on 13th June 2017.

This is just an edit. A subjective view. Nothing more and nothing less.

Stifling distortions

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