Summertime blues

As the inhabitants of Westminster look forward to rushing off to their summer holidays, it appears that Healthcare England is dissolving into meltdown. In the aftermath of the Francis Report into Mid Staffs, and the creation of NHS England, we have the shoot-in–the-foot cover up (allegedly) at the CQC whilst NHS 111 is failing to answer just about any call that that happens to find its way to them. Doctors passing no confidence motions in the Health Secretary are added to surgeons who don’t want their data released and GPs who don’t want out-of-hours passed back to them at any cost. Seen from the middle distance, suddenly dentistry seems like a quiet backwater.

But the closer you look the less encouraging the view. Devastating news of bullying tactics, which may have led to the suicide of a dentist who was the subject of a clawback campaign, was rightly met at the LDC Conference by an unscheduled response from the Minister who deplored any such activity. Tragically, the news from elsewhere in health doesn’t give us much confidence, whether it’s about gagging clauses for whistle-blowing hospital managers or simply forgetting who said what in a meeting to “bury bad news” at the CQC.