Simon Jenkins If I were a Tory strategist, I might encourage Scottish independence
theguardian
Wednesday o1.01.14
Published in London
and Manchester
EL40
9 79826 307736
Thousands lined the banks of the Thames in central London last night to see the New Year fireworks display in front of the houses of partiament and the London Eye
Call to end bash-the-NHS culture
Health service chiefs say routine condemnation exaggerates extent of poor care
ries blame ministers, NHS bosses and the
media for creatinganatmosphere inwhich
demoralised and frustrated staff feel the
service is facing constant attacks that give
a distorted picture of its performance.
"As we move into 2014 can we, as organ-
representing the NHS frontline,
call for a new page to be turned as we start
by Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary. "If recrimination. Ministers, for perfectly
you listen to some of the NHS system lead-
ers - ministers and the leaders of organi-
sations such as NHS England, the Care
Quality Commission, Monitor and the
NHS Trust Development Authority - you
get the impression that all NH
Mid Staffs and that's clearly not the case,"
said Chris Hopson, chief executive of the chair of a hospital trust had told him in
Foundation Trust Network, which repre-
sents most of England's hospitals.
"We are really concerned that when you
hear these system leaders talk you get a
relentless focus on the negative (and] on implied, and lagree with that".
cal director, Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, have
failed to defend the service, highlight its
achievements or maintain a proper sense
of balance in the many controversies that
Denis Campbell
understandable reasons, have chosen to
focuson the areas where care failures have
occurred, and those are important. But it
would be really good if they also publicly emerged during 2013, Hopson added.
recognised that the vast majority of NHS
care is good or very good," he added.
Hopson said every chief executive and Medical Association, said ministers had
Leaders of key NHS organisations today
demand an end to what they describe as
relentless criticism of the service which isatic
exaggerates the extent of poor care and
sees GPs and hospital doctors "unfairly
bashed" for problems beyond their
control.
An open letter signed by the leaders of fallout from a series of care scandals such
10 NHS organisations, published in the
Guardian, calls for "amoremeasured view
"That's been sadly lacking."
Dr Mark
s like
chairman o
tish
a new year?" they write.
unfairly besmirched the reputations of GPS
recent months "that staff feel that the NHS and hospital consultants. He expressed
is being unfairly bashed by a whole bunch
of people, that while there are failures of
care they aren't as widespread as is being onconsultants for failing toprovide out-of
The letter comes after 12 months in
which the service had to contend with the
disquiet about "politicians blaming GPs for
pressures on emergency care [or] attacks
as those at Mid Staffordshire, Morecambe
Bayand Colchester hospitals, and a host of
of how the NHS is performing" instead of inquiries recommending improvements identifying all that's bad, and then com-
to care, as well as some intense criticism
hours care when we know a huge propor-
Staff are irritated that NHS bosses, with
the exception of NHS England's medi-
emphasising past failures. The signato-
ing up with really quite harsh blame and
Continued on page 2 >
Inside court six, the cauldron of domestic violence
ourt six at Manches-
ter magistrates court
is never the cheeriest
place. As the city's only
courtroom dedicated
to domestic violence,
its stock in trade is
relentless familial
misery. Usually men beating their
wives or girlfriends, although
occasionally the other way around,
with the odd child-beating parent,
parent-beating child or volatile same-
sex relationship to mix things up.
Most of the courtrooms across
England and Wales shut up shop
between Christmas and new year. But
not court six. Along with football derby
increased demand, GMP allocated more
officers to attend incidents, backed
up by specialist domestic violence
investigators. "Domestic violence
tends to go hand in hand with alcohol,"
said DC Sarah Harris, a domestic abuse
days, the festive period is prime time
for domestic abuse, according to Greater
Manchester police (GMP). Tensions over
money and unrealistic expectations
about having the "perfect" Christmas,
combined with excessive alcohol, con-
sumed in an enclosed space, are thought officer with GMP. "So we brace our-
to lie behind the annual spike, which is
repeated across the country.
So many domestics kicked off in
Manchester on Christmas Day this year
- 35 incidents in the north Manchester
division, compared with around 20 on
a normal day - that Court six had to
open for business on Saturday to deal
with the backlog. It was still wading
through cases yesterday as the clock
counted down to 2014. To cope with the
A cocktail of excess alcohol
and money worries brings a
spike in abuse. Helen Pldd
reports from hearings
dedicated to such cases
selves at this time of year."
Many of the 35 cases on Christmas
Day began with the most mundane
arguments, said Harris. "One mother
and daughter were arguing in the
street because the mum hadn't got
the Christmas dinner ready when the
daughter wanted it, and the neighbours
called the police. We ended up hav-
Continued on page 2 >
... vZ1
