Morning:
6°c
Great Ormond Street Hospital has been accused of mounting a spin campaign to cover up its failings over Baby P.
Lynne Featherstone, MP for Haringey where Baby P lived, said the children's hospital's chief executive, Jane Collins, “misled” the public after revelations about problems at the child protection clinic in St Ann's Hospital, Tottenham, which Great Ormond Street runs.
The Standard reported this week that all four consultants at the clinic signed a letter to management in June 2006, more than a year before Baby P died, warning that understaffing at St Ann's created a “very high risk” to children's safety.
They claimed little or no action was taken and by the time Baby P came to the clinic all four had left, though one has since returned. Baby P was seen by an overstretched temporary locum who missed that his back was broken. He died two days later.
On the hospital's website, Ms Collins claimed the consultants' concerns were “addressed at the time”. In fact, as the hospital conceded last night, staffing levels were further reduced — from four posts to three. A Great Ormond Street spokesman admitted to the Standard that Ms Collins's statement could be seen as “disingenuous” and said she was “reconsidering” her comments.
The statement has been removed from the website. Dr Sethu Wariyar, one of the four consultants, said managers from Great Ormond Street and Haringey Primary Care Trust, which jointly ran the clinic, ignored the letter. “The situation actually got worse,” he said.
Another senior professional in child protection in Haringey said services at St Ann's “collapsed” by early 2007. An NHS London inquiry has begun into Great Ormond Street's alleged failure to act on the letter. Ms Featherstone said she would refer Ms Collins to it: “What we need now is to get at the truth, not to find one of the world's greatest hospitals misleading us.”
Reader views (10)
Justice for Haringey social workers demands that, at least, Jane Collins is removed from her position at GOSH. Or is it only social workers who have to accept the blame for these tradgedies
- Speedo, London, 18/05/2009 00:58
Report abuse
i donate to great ormond street
are they like the politicians are liars and crooks how do we trust them
my donations will be stopped tomorrow and i will find a more deserving cause
- Andy Woodock, london, 17/05/2009 09:31
Report abuse
They are all at it.
MP's, the judiciary, civil servants, MD's, CEO's, bosses, managers, wherever there is an untraceable budget most of it is getting creamed off.
- Les, Essex, 17/05/2009 03:14
Report abuse
Good work Andrew Gilligan at the Standard!Ms Jane Collins deserves to be awarded "the mother of all spin award" for her role in spinning the sad death of baby p.
Each time new revelations appear to show that the paediatrician Dr Alzayat was let down by her employers..the GOSH! My GOSH they did it again.Ms Collins,you failed this great institution,its staff and baby p.
John Gladstone
- John Gladstone, Doncaster, 15/05/2009 22:48
Report abuse
What on earth have we been paying our taxes for, if this level of incompetence prevails (remembering the other serious scandals over care of the elderly in hospital? What has GOSH been doing with the millions we all contributed over the years??
This -- along with the scandal in Parliament -- stinks from top to bottom. it is not only time for a new government, it is time we, as citizens, took more control of our destiny as the current arrangements are clearly failing miserably.
- Helene Davidson, London, 15/05/2009 13:26
Report abuse
If only Ms Collins was reconsidering her position, rather than her comments. She failed Baby Peter, she failed her staff, the public, she failed!
- Charles, Oxford, England, 15/05/2009 11:51
Report abuse
It's been like having a ringside seat at the Day of Judgement -against a fast moving backdrop of the MPs expenses scandal, the beleagured residents of Haringey have had revelation after revelation of management incompetence by all the services in the Baby P scandal!
This week it's been the turn of Haringey health service managers to apologise unreservedly. But while MPs can at least be called to account, lose their seats at the next election, or even pay compensation - it is difficult to see what the beleagured residents of Haringey can do to unseat the incompetent Haringey PCT managers whose bullying and ignorance caused professional concerns to be kicked aside as they pursued re-organisations, selloffs, and a litany of budget cuts right across frontline services with no regard for the residents who would be hurt by them.
Haringey PCT have now dragged the good name of the NHS and now Great Ormond Street Hospital into disrepute.
If Haringey PCT was a business, the whole board would have been unceremoniously sacked by its shareholders long ago, and its customers could have gone elsewhere. In Elizabethan times their heads would have rolled!
Surely there should be a Public Enquiry.
NB I represent Vulnerable Groups for the Haringey Federation of Residents' Associations and we have worked hard over the years to try and raise their needs with Haringey PCT, but with no more success than the paediatricians of St. Ann's. Well done to Andrew Gilligan and the Standard
- Sue Hessel, Crouch End, London, 15/05/2009 11:25
Report abuse
It's been like having a ringside seat at the Day of Judgement -against a fast moving backdrop of the MPs expenses scandal, the beleagured residents of Haringey have had revelation after revelation of management incompetence by all the services in the Baby P scandal!
This week it's been the turn of Haringey health service managers to apologise unreservedly. But while MPs can at least be called to account, lose their seats at the next election, or even pay compensation - it is difficult to see what the beleagured residents of Haringey can do to unseat the incompetent Haringey PCT managers whose bullying and ignorance caused professional concerns to be kicked aside as they pursued re-organisations, selloffs, and a litany of budget cuts right across frontline services with no regard for the residents who would be hurt by them.
Haringey PCT have dragged not only the good name of the NHS down, but now Great Ormond Street Hospital.
If Haringey PCT was a business, the whole board would have been unceremoniously sacked by its shareholders long ago, and its customers could have gone elsewhere. In Elizabethan times their heads would have rolled!
- Sue Hessel, London, 15/05/2009 10:44
Report abuse
The lack of principle within public servants does not surprise me. It does not take a mastermind to see hospitals are over managed with too few Doctors, nurses and cleaners and expensive car parks.
- Gary, Brentwood, 15/05/2009 10:29
Report abuse
The hospital is only the 'world's greatest' because like many 'successful' charities its employs a people who are fund-raiser and spinners to say so time and time again, using celebrities and fluffy animals to fool the public into thinking they can do no wrong. Look at what they do and not what they say.
- Jf, London, 15/05/2009 09:30
Report abuse
