Government uses new method to judge performance of hospitals to try to prevent “gaming” of system
BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d7015 (Published 28 October 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d7015
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It would be interesting to know how Nigel Hawkes has assessed that Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is "now recognised to have been one of the most dysfunctional in the history of the NHS". This statement essentially sounds like emotive personal opinion rather than having any sort of evidence base. Whilst the prolonged enquiry has shown a dysfunctional hospital management it is not clear what the comparators might be so as to make such an extreme judgement.
What is clear is that no other district general hospital has been put through the mill with such damaging results to staff morale. How many of the hospital departments not picked over in this enquiry are functioning as perfectedly reasonable clinical teams? My local knowledge and personal observation of the hospital suggests a range of good clinical teams comparable to many elsewhere.
This enquiry and the ongoing media interest have been relentless in their criticism of Stafford Hospital. Does this mean that there are no dysfunctional teams anywhere else? Is there no better way to rebuild Stafford Hospital than to continue to pursue this profoundly destructive urge?
Competing interests: I am resident in the catchment area of Stafford Hospital
I was pleased to read that the government has launched mortality indicators in response to the Healthcare Commission. Stated in the lead paragraph, however, is the fact that 14 NHS trusts in England had a higher than expected (average) mortality and 14 lower. Surely this is simply stating a mathematical certainty.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Government uses new method to judge performance of hospitals to try to prevent “gaming” of system
I suspect Nigel Hawkes was loose in his reference to Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust now being "recognised to have been one of the most dysfunctional in the history of the NHS". In a previous article,[1] he questioned whether David Nicholson could say that this Trust was "a freak event, unprecedented and never to be repeated".
He went on to conclude "The NHS believes it can get away with categorising every failure as a freak and scapegoating the managers involved". Hopefully, the inquiry into the role of the commissioning, supervisory and regulatory bodies in the monitoring of Mid Staffordshire Foundation NHS Trust will put this right.[2]
[1] Nigel Hawkes. Come back community health councils, all is forgiven. BMJ 2009;338:bmj.b2023
[2] http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/
Competing interests: No competing interests