The report revealed a culture of bullying at NHS Lothian.
The report also revealed that according to the data from regular staff surveys across Scotland's NHS, the problems in NHS Lothian are experienced by staff across the rest of our NHS in Scotland.
Just before the report was published, James Barbour, Chief Executive at NHS Lothian, resigned.
All of the Board members who run NHS Lothian on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary, and who are appointed by her, remain in place, and continue to be paid several thousand pounds a year for their trouble. Part of their job is to hold the paid staff of NHS Lothian to account for all that they do and, in some cases, for all that they don't do.
Seems to me that the governance arrangements at NHS Lothian were not fit for purpose, if bullying of staff was allowed to go on to the extent revealed in the report and to such an extent that it directly created the environment in which data on waiting time guarantees were fiddled. Not convinced that asking the Board members who presided over this sordid mess to clean it up is going to deliver the culture change required - they were and are part of the failed culture.
Further up the chain of accountability is the Cabinet Secretary herself. She has been running the NHS in Scotland for a few years now. All that we encounter in our NHS is her responsibility. Very little of what is there now in the NHS can be blamed on the previous administration. In all that I have read, including press releases from government, I find nothing which suggests the Cabinet Secretary accepts any responsibility for the mess at NHS Lothian and, as the report makes clear, across the rest of the NHS in Scotland.
Three questions have not been answered in this report.
Why has the Cabinet Secretary, who has lead responsibility for creating the management culture in the NHS at the most senior levels, not accepted responsibility in any way for what has been uncovered and why has she not decided that her resignation would be the most appropriate and honourable action?
Given the adverse impact on the patient experience as a result of the fiddling of waiting time guarantees, what confidence can patients have that the bullying culture has not also impacted on the quality of patient services in other parts of the NHS?
And finally but no less importantly, why has the Cabinet Secretary not required NHS Lothian to investigate the number of staff who have been dismissed or who have resigned from NHS Lothian employment as a direct result of the bullying culture and look at options for reinstatement or at worst appropriate levels of financial compensation?
The report also revealed that according to the data from regular staff surveys across Scotland's NHS, the problems in NHS Lothian are experienced by staff across the rest of our NHS in Scotland.
Just before the report was published, James Barbour, Chief Executive at NHS Lothian, resigned.
All of the Board members who run NHS Lothian on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary, and who are appointed by her, remain in place, and continue to be paid several thousand pounds a year for their trouble. Part of their job is to hold the paid staff of NHS Lothian to account for all that they do and, in some cases, for all that they don't do.
Seems to me that the governance arrangements at NHS Lothian were not fit for purpose, if bullying of staff was allowed to go on to the extent revealed in the report and to such an extent that it directly created the environment in which data on waiting time guarantees were fiddled. Not convinced that asking the Board members who presided over this sordid mess to clean it up is going to deliver the culture change required - they were and are part of the failed culture.
Further up the chain of accountability is the Cabinet Secretary herself. She has been running the NHS in Scotland for a few years now. All that we encounter in our NHS is her responsibility. Very little of what is there now in the NHS can be blamed on the previous administration. In all that I have read, including press releases from government, I find nothing which suggests the Cabinet Secretary accepts any responsibility for the mess at NHS Lothian and, as the report makes clear, across the rest of the NHS in Scotland.
Three questions have not been answered in this report.
Why has the Cabinet Secretary, who has lead responsibility for creating the management culture in the NHS at the most senior levels, not accepted responsibility in any way for what has been uncovered and why has she not decided that her resignation would be the most appropriate and honourable action?
Given the adverse impact on the patient experience as a result of the fiddling of waiting time guarantees, what confidence can patients have that the bullying culture has not also impacted on the quality of patient services in other parts of the NHS?
And finally but no less importantly, why has the Cabinet Secretary not required NHS Lothian to investigate the number of staff who have been dismissed or who have resigned from NHS Lothian employment as a direct result of the bullying culture and look at options for reinstatement or at worst appropriate levels of financial compensation?
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