Labour obsession with political correctness and red tape means dire care for patients says senior doctor

Labour's record on the NHS came under unprecedented attack yesterday from one of Britain's most senior doctors.

Professor Paul Goddard, a former president of the Royal Society of Medicine, accused the Government of leading the NHS into 'catastrophic meltdown'.

The award-winning professor directed particular anger at the drugs-rationing body Nice, which he accused of virtually killing patients to save money.

He said Labour's obsession with bureaucracy and political correctness had resulted in dire care for patients.

Money-saving practices, introduced to meet strict Whitehall targets, had contributed greatly to the rise of superbugs killing patients on hospital wards.

Professor Goddard said he became so disillusioned he ended his 30-year career as a consultant radiologist in disgust.

He had been head of training for ten hospitals across south west England, but felt the most effective way he could challenge the 'shocking incompetence' and mess of the NHS was to speak out.

Professor Goddard, 58, said: 'The NHS was built on the foundation of caring for the community. It was designed to help those who needed help, care for those who needed care, and treat those who needed treatment.

'Those basic principles have been lost as the Government takes us down a dangerous path towards what can only be a catastrophic meltdown of the system.

'The most important thing for doctors and nurses used to be caring for the patient and making sure he or she gets better.

'But this government isn't interested in that any more. It's only interested in money, money, money  -  that is making it, saving it, and spending it, usually on themselves.'

Professor Goddard told of:

• Patients starving in beds because nurses do not have time to feed them.
• Superbugs spreading in dirty hospitals because privatised cleaners did not do a proper job.
• Sick patients refused life-saving drugs if they cost too much, but told they will not be treated if they buy their own.

He said of Nice, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence: 'It is a terrible organisation. We call it the National Institute for Cost-cutting Exercise. Lives are being lost because of them.

'If they think a patient will gain an extra year of life, but it will cost more than £20,000, they think it's not cost-effective.

'Yet if the patient wants to pay for it themselves, they are then denied NHS treatment.

'It's an outrage  -  in areas such as eye care and dentistry people can part-pay for their treatment. But for life- saving drugs you cannot mix and match.'

Professor Goddard graduated in pharmacology from the University of London in 1971.

The radiology specialist won a host of medical honours for his work at hospitals across the country. He also raised millions for medical charities.

Now he has written a book entitled The History of Medicine, Money and Politics,

Professor Goddard, who lives in Bristol with his dentist wife, said: 'I worked at all levels, national, regional and organisational, sitting on numerous committees.

'But I felt I had nothing left to offer as once the managers had made up their minds on a political line that was it  -  they said there was no forum for discussion.

'I'm not coming at this from a party political view and I don't have a political axe to grind, but the mismanagement of this government has been shocking.

'It started before that, and it is important to view what has happened in a historical context, but Blair and Brown have accelerated the rot to such an extent that the NHS is the poor man of Europe.

'Doctors cannot normally speak out as they fear losing their jobs. But someone needs to reveal the true state of the NHS today.'

Professor Goddard experienced NHS incompetence personally after having stomach surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

He found rat poison and dirty tissues under his bed and caught an infection from a woman in the next bed.

A spokesman for the NHS said last night: 'Over the past years the NHS has seen record levels of investment which is delivering real benefits for staff and patients on the ground.

'Ten years ago waits of 18 months were not uncommon, but by the end of this year no-one should wait longer then 18 weeks, despite the fact that the number of operations has increased by over 1.5million.

'None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of everyone working in the NHS, which includes 80,000 new nurses and midwives and 40,000 more doctors employed in the last ten years.'