HSJ Live 24.06.2013

5.30pm: Detectives at Cumbria Police will examine the Grant Thornton report into the alleged CQC cover-up over the scandal at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust.

In a statement released today a spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary said it was considering the content of the lengthy CQC report that was released last week.

They said: “A dedicated team of detectives will examine the report in detail and decide whether any further action is required. We will keep the Metropolitan Police informed as appropriate.

“We are committed to examining the report thoroughly, and it takes time to do this properly. We anticipate examining the report will take three weeks.”

3.40pm: Julie Bailey, founder of the Cure the NHS campaign group which exposed failures at the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust has ceased trading at her business in Stafford and will leave the town.

She had her last trading day at Breaks Café, in Stafford, on Saturday. The café has served as a meeting point for the families involved in the campaign.

Ms Bailey, who was thrust into the spotlight when she began speaking up about poor care at Stafford Hospital in 2007, said she will leave Stafford by the end of this week.

In a statement she said: “I am having to leave my home, my livelihood and my friends because a few misinformed local political activists have fuelled a hate campaign based on proven lies. The final straw for me was the desecration of my mum’s grave.”

She added: “It is a sad day today, but I have no alternative than to move out of Stafford.  The last few months have been a very distressing time for myself and Cure the NHS; our main aim has always been a safer NHS for all.

“Difficult as it is for people, everyone must finally realise that patient safety must be the priority. The main focus for every hospital must be the patient.

“Thank you to everybody who has supported us through this difficult journey that exposed the biggest disaster in NHS history, where hundreds of members of this community died. Cure the NHS will continue to ensure safe care for all, eventually this will be our loved ones legacy.”

3pm: Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie has called for a judge-led inquiry to examine relationships at the top of the NHS following the scandal at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust and the alleged cover-up by the Care Quality Commission.

The MP for Bristol North West has been an outspoken critic of NHS England chief executive Sir David Nicholson following the publication of the Francis report into the failures at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust.

In a blog post on Conservative Home website the MP says that while events at Morecambe Bay were shocking they were not surprising and she highlights “an oddly Birmingham-centric group” around Sir David.

She writes: “mounting evidence also shows that Morecambe Bay and Mid Staffs are likely to be just symptoms of a worrying network of cover-up at the heart of the NHS.”

She adds: “The same old names keep emerging. At the heart of it is David Nicholson, now promoted from overseeing Mid Staff’s darkest days to Chief Executive of NHS England, who has been splitting his time between London and Birmingham.

“Around him there is an oddly Birmingham-centric group.”

She lists Sir David’s wife, Sarah-Jane Marsh, chief executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital and a series of other individuals with links to Sir David or the West Midlands including former CQC board member Dierdre Kelly; former CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower; Sir Hugh Taylor chief executive of the Guys and St. Thomas’ Trust, and Dame Barbara Hakin, NHS England deputy chief executive.

She criticises the “incredible amnesia” senior individuals rely on following scandals and calls for Sir David to be sacked.

She says: “A major inquiry, led by a judge, should be held into what has happened; it should reveal the relationships and interrelationships between NHS managers, Department of Health Officials, Secretaries of State and Ministers at the time.

“It should look at how appointments were made, and where interests of individuals lay, who know what and when.”

Read the full blog post here.

2.45pm: The NHS is launching a review of whether health and social care data is secure from hackers, amid increasing concerns about cyber security.

The first chair of the Health and Social Care Information Centre, Kingsley Manning, outlined the work in an interview with HSJ.

Mr Manning also set out his plans for the new organisation.

Mr Manning said: “We think for us as a country, for the healthcare system including social care, the importance of cyber security is going to rise and we are going to undertake a major review.

“The estimated number of attempts to hack from overseas governments into British government agencies is staggering. We can make the health and social care system aware of this.”

Read the full story here.

1.45pm: North West Lib Dem MP Tim Farron has tweeted to say his office has contacted the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust who were told chief nurse Jackie Holt would be leaving.

The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale and President of the Liberal Democrats tweeted: “My office have contacted the trust who have said that she is going! V confused now.

“Not happy if they told me she is going and she’s not.”

1.30pm: Scandal-hit University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay’s plans to move its chief nurse to another foundation trust were thrown into confusion today when the would-be recipient said it had not agreed to the move.

Morecambe Bay last week announced in a statement that Jackie Holt would be going to Warrington and Halton Hospitals on a 12-month secondment to work on a project around workforce skills and future ways of working. It added that Morecambe Bay would continue to pay her full salary over this period, at the end of which she would cease to be employed by the trust.

However, Warrington and Halton today said that although they were approached about the possibility of providing a secondment they had decided against it.

A spokesman said: “We did agree to consider a possible project opportunity, but in doing so, no conclusions were reached and no formal agreement was made. After consideration it has not been possible to provide that particular opportunity at the present time so Ms Holt will not be working with the trust.”

1.25pm: Jill Finney, the former deputy chief executive of the Care Quality Commission told Sky News today she did not order the deletion of a controversial report into the failings at the University Hopsitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust.

She claimed the report on failings at Morecambe Bay, revealed by the Grant Thornton probe, needed further work.

Says the CQC was not pressured by the Labour Government to only provide good news and said the CQC did highlight failings.

She told presenter Adam Boulton that she had been fired by her new employer, a company called Nominet “because the pressure was too great”.

She added: “The CQC needs to be resourced properly. When the CQC was set-up it had a third less budget and a wider remit than the three former organisations, that was always going to be a challenge.”

1.10pm: NHS top-up fees are “irresponsible, dangerous and an administrative nightmare and will lead to 2-tier health care,” according to the National Health Action Party.

The British Medical Association Annual Representatives Meeting in Edinburgh has voted to engage the public in debate about the future affordability of the NHS.

This includes whether top up fees and user charges should be introduced.

Reacting to the vote, the National Health Action Party, led by BMA council member Dr Clive Peedell, said: “The introduction of NHS top-up fees would be irresponsible, dangerous and an administrative nightmare.

“This fundamentally undermines the founding principles of the NHS. We do not want to go down that road. Charges and fees will put patients off from seeing their doctors when they have genuine needs.

“This will increase health risks and potentially increase costs as patients may present later with more advanced healthcare problems, which can increase complexity and cost of treatment.

“Once again, the poorest and most vulnerable in society will be affected the most. Another classic case of the Inverse Care Law.”

1pm: Market regulator Monitor has produced a set of frequently asked questions on integrated care and the obligations on providers, commissioners and health and wellbeing boards.

On its website the regulator has said: “We have published these FAQs to assist commissioners, providers and health and wellbeing boards to comply with their obligations relating to integrated care and to explain the relationship between these obligations and the other rules that Monitor enforces.

Read the FAQs here.

12.30am: The GMC has apologised after 97 doctors were mistakenly added to GO and specialist registers weeks ahead of when they should have been.

The issue emerged on Friday and was blamed on a software error.

In a statement Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, said: “I have written to 97 doctors to apologise for a mistake we have made in sending out Certificates of Completion of Training (CCT) and to let them know how we are putting it right.

“A computer software error has resulted in this small group of doctors being added to the GP and specialist registers a few weeks before they should have been.

“I have written to every doctor who has been affected to say sorry and explain what has happened. We have also informed the royal colleges.

“There are no patient safety issues here and we very much hope that the doctors involved have not been worried about this.

“We have now fixed the problem and corrected the register and we will do everything we can to make sure this does not happen again.”

11.30am: Doctors at the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting in Edinburgh have passed a vote of no confidence in Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

11.22am: Consultant Jacky Davis is leading the call for a vote of no confidence in health secretary Jeremy Hunt at the BMA’s Annual Representatives Meeting in Edinburgh.

She says the ARM should have started with a two minute silence this morning for the NHS, which has suffered damaging cuts and reforms. 

Mr Hunt is ready to blame anyone and everyone rather than the government she says.

His new cunning plan is to cut back the service, the staff and then blame the NHS and say it can only be saved by the private sector. ‘We are all familiar with that,’ Dr Davis says. Mr Hunt does ‘not have the interest of the NHS at heart and it shows every day’, she says to applause.

11.13am: Ciarán Devane, chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, writes that as UK life expectancy increases more people will get cancer and other long term conditions. The NHS needs a coordinated response to handle this new pressure.

He says: “Getting on with day to day things will make some improvements and release some cash, which will enable the next iterative improvement. But that will not be enough. In parallel we need radical action.”

11.10am: On Wednesday chancellor George Osborne will present results of the government’s comprehensive spending review, which will divide government spending for 2015-16 between departments.

HSJ’s live coverage and analysis on the day will be free for registered users of hsj.co.uk.

11am: There are only five working days for your organisation to enter the HSJ Awards 2013. Details of the 32nd HSJ Awards categories and how to enter for free can be found at www.hsjawards.co.uk

10.50am: You can now download the full text of the speech by BMA Chair Dr Mark Porter by clicking on the link (see right).

10.45am: The Daily Mail reports on calls for chief nurse Jane Cummings and NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrer to resign over their failure to address poor care at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust whilst in charge of the North West Strategic Health Authority.

James Titcombe whose son Joshua died at the trust’s Furness General Hospital told the paper Mr Farrar should “consider his position”.

Mr Farrar was chief executive between 2007 and 2011 while Ms Cummings was chief nurse between 2007 and 2011 and deputy chief executive during her last six months.

The paper describes them as “two of the most powerful figures in the NHS” and notes Mr Farrar has been tipped as a contender for the chief executive of NHS England when David Nicholson retires next year.

Meanwhile in an opinion piece, the paper’s controversial columnist Melanie Phillips argues the scandals at Morecambe Bay and Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust demonstrate the need for the privatisation of the NHS.

10.37am: Almost two-thirds of doctors feel less “empowered” than they did before the government’s controversial health reforms, a new poll suggests.

Ministers said that the 2012 Health and Social Care Act would put doctors in the driving seat. However, two months after its implementation, 65 per cent of doctors feel less empowered at work than they did a year ago, according to a British Medical Association survey.

See the full story here.

10.35am: Health minister Dan Poulter has linked the NHS scandal in Morecambe Bay to the previous care scandal in Mid Staffordshire, saying in both cases a “rotten culture” took hold at the hospitals.

Dr Poulter said this culture, in which “institutional secrecy” was placed ahead of patient safety, had also extended to regulator the Care Quality Commission.

See the full story on HSJ here.

10.22am: Andrew Lansley has denied accusations that his department dismissed concerns about the CQC from a whistleblower when he was secretary of state for Health, The Guardian reports.

He said in an interview with broadcast media that after former CQC chair wrote to him asking for Kay Sheldon’s removal from the CQC board he instead met Ms Sheldon and did not dimiss her, although he did tell her he was considering the question of her dismissal.

The story also carries a response from Michael O’Higgins, chair of the NHS Confederation, saying of chief executive and former NHS North West boss Mike Farrar: “If a chief executive stood down every time there was a complaint about his or her organisation, and not about them personally, it would not make sense. There is no reason for the chief executive of the NHS Confederation to stand aside while [the health service ombudsman’s] inquiry takes place.”

10.21am: Dr Porter says employers must speak up instead of punishing them as so often happens. “This more than anything else will truly transform the organisational culture of the NHS.”

10.20am: Doctors must feel comfortable and safe when raising concerns, says BMA council chair Dr Mark Porter: “At present, we do not.”

10.18am: The ringfenced NHS budget features in a piece in today’s Financial Times about negotiations ahead of this week’s comprehensive spending review.

Ministers including business secretary Vince Cable, communities secretary Eric Pickles and, intriguingly, defence secretary Philip Hammond, have tried to “burrow under the ringfence” to get parts of their budgets designated “health spending”.

The row has not been settled yet, the FT reports.

10.15am: Visit the BMA website for updates from the ARM in Edinburgh.http://www.bma.public-i.tv/core/portal/arm-monday

10.05am: Calls for a Tesco 24/7 NHS are ridiculous when the NHS can’t afford its current model says Dr Mark Porter.

10am: Dr Porter tells ARM he would welcome any civil servants and ministers being sent for work shadowing to his hospital. But he adds: ‘Let’s not forget the insights of the people who work in this environment every single day.’

9.30am: The British Medical Association’s Annual Representatives Meeting is taking place in Edinburgh. Chair of Council Dr Mark Porter is speaking this morning.

Good morning, meeting efficacy and safety thresholds does not always guarantee that a new therapy will succeed or reach the market.

Pharmaceutical companies need to emphasise total product value and real world, quality of life outcomes to determine which therapies to develop, writes Pierre Anhoury.