The Campaign

I started the Campaign after trying to get treatment for my mother. On the morning after her hip operation was postponed, I wrote to my MP. Before he replied, I spoke on local radio. My MP wrote that he was aware of several similar incidents, and had drawn the appropriate Minister’s attention to them. This reinforced to me how remote is the political accountability of the Health Service. My MP has limited influence. Ministers are accountable to Parliament, but because they owe their positions to the Prime Minister's patronage, and most MPs hope for promotion from the same Prime Minister, while the main Opposition's core values reject public provision of services, ministers' Parliamentary accountability is in practice very weak.

I spoke to other patients and their relatives. Some of them were reluctant to speak to me, fearing reprisals from the hospital. Others were only interested in financial compensation, which drains the NHS of funds, and not in improving accountability. I wrote letters to the local press and spoke at a public meeting called to discuss the future of Rugby Hospital. Other people referred to my letters. A contractor working at my home said his wife was a nurse and confirmed that consultants intimidated staff, but she was afraid to speak in public. This attitude among staff persists after retirement. One of my relatives asked not to be quoted, although she is retired and her husband is a councillor.

The next stage was to approach Community Health Council (CHC) members. They are appointed, not democratically elected, and their powers are limited, ultimately, to drawing their concerns to the Secretary of State’s attention. They also have their limitations in operation. They should, however, be aware of the problems and may have some influence towards achieving change. CHCs include people who are politically active, working in an environment where they are less likely to be restrained by Group discipline. There are many thousands of CHC members, and I have only reached about a quarter of them. Most of the replies I have received are supportive, especially one from near Bristol from a clergyman who was familiar with the Royal Infirmary scandal but said he resigned from his CHC after three months in disgust at its inactivity. Some of the less supportive replies are illuminating. A woman from Oldham telephoned that her CHC officer was out of order for giving me her name and address. Several CHC officers said their members represented the community collectively, not individually, and their identities were confidential. A man from Northavon wrote that individual insurance was the way to provide health services. Since then the Association of Community Health Councils in England and Wales has set up a review of the role, organisation and membership of CHCs. The North East Warwickshire CHC has responded positively, but not to the extent of recommending direct elections. I appeared in the national press once with a letter in the Daily Mail responding to the story of the award of damages to the relatives of a woman who died after being sent away contemptuously without investigation when she had breast cancer. On compulsory euthanasia I put a contribution on the Democracy Network on the Internet.

As the United Kingdom Government’s position on democracy is clear and unhelpful, I took the opportunity of the election of the new National Assembly for Wales to write to all the Assembly Members suggesting they should make the Health Service in Wales democratically accountable at local level. Again, most of the replies I have received (from all political parties) are sympathetic, but unlikely to lead to early action.

We have joined organisations with related interests and aims, and extended our network by sign-posting between our respective web-sites.