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This extract from the Leicester Mercury
should give readers some insight into the machinations and
unpleasantness of working in the Milburn/Reid NHS under the Stalinist
control government of Anthony Blair.
There is no suggestion that Dr Farley was
anything but an excellent GP, well experienced and well-liked by his
patients and staff. He just did not fit into to the
short-sighted, political, cost-dictated targets of the NHS of 2004.
He is not alone in believing that caring
for his patients comes first and political targets second. In this
case, though, the conscientious GP was hounded to death for his belief
by NHS apparatchiks.
It is this atmosphere which is deterring
new doctors from entering general practice and encouraging established
GPs to retire early. The vindictive and ignorant
report by Dame Janet Smith of Shipman fame will do nothing to improve
matters but will, no doubt only accelerate to manpower crisis in general
practice.
One has to wonder whether anybody has
ever troubled to tell Dame Janet that there are already over 30 groups
eager to report GPs for discipline - or did she not trouble to find out?
I trust that those responsible for the
hounding of Dr Farley will be named, shamed and punished but, as with a
Blunket/Blair resignation, hell will freeze over first. Only
the doctors receive punishment and blame in the Blair NHS.
| INQUIRY
INTO GP'S DEATH REPORTS TODAY |
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BY BEN FARMER
10:30 - 09 December 2004 |
The findings of an
inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of a popular
village GP will be published today.
The inquiry came after Dr Stephen Farley,
of Ibstock House Surgery, Ibstock, was found hanged in a barn near
his house in January.
Colleagues of the 55-year-old said he was being
"hounded" by health bosses.
In the four years before his death, the local NHS primary care
trust (PCT) investigated him for sending too many patients to
hospital.
Colleagues and friends reported that Dr Farley was suffering from
depression in the weeks before his death.
He also told friends he was being investigated for costing North
West Leicestershire PCT too much money.
Soon after the tragedy, surgery manager Charles Jones told the
Mercury: "The situation worried him a great deal, and just
before Christmas he was taken ill with depression.
"There are ways of doing things and we felt they were
hounding him, almost persecuting him.
"The finger was always pointing at him. It was this
continuing pressure."
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health
Authority oversees the work of the PCT.
A week after the tragic death of Dr Farley, the authority
announced the independent inquiry.
Chaired by Professor Louise Fitzgerald, of De Montfort University,
it was set up to investigate the way the PCT treated Dr Farley.
Meetings of the review panel have been held in private, but the
conclusions will be released at a press conference at the
authority's HQ this morning.
Some of the main recommendations include setting up a formal
process for investigating GPs.
Health bosses will be told that inquiries should take between six
months and a year - not four years like the Dr Farley
investigation.
Dr Farley practised in Ibstock for 25 years and after his death,
patients queued to sign a book of condolence at the surgery.
About 450 mourners packed St Denys' Parish Church in the village
for Dr Farley's funeral on February 6, while another 200
congregated outside to hear the service relayed through
loudspeakers.
In July, hundreds of people attended a meeting to tell inquiry
panel members how respected Dr Farley was. Several said they owed
their lives to his care, while others expressed anger and said he
had been stabbed in the back.
North West Leicestershire MP David Taylor was a patient of Dr
Farley and was one of those who called for the inquiry.
In January, he told the Mercury: "I need to know what
happened. I've had a good number of people from the Ibstock area
urging me to find out the background to this tragedy."
AN
INQUIRY OR JUST A REVIEW?
10:30 - 10 December 2004
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The very
strong reaction by colleagues of a village GP to the
findings of an inquiry into his death suggests there are
still questions to be answered. The report into the death of
popular doctor Stephen Farley found he was overworked and
under pressure - and should have been treated himself before
any investigation was started.
In the four years before his death, Charnwood and North West
Leicestershire Primary Care Trust investigated him for
allegedly sending too many patients to hospital.
Before yesterday's report findings, colleagues had already
claimed he was suffering from depression and was being
"hounded'' by health bosses. Today, they challenge
evidence given to the inquiry, with one of their main
complaints the fact that health bosses had been warned about
what could happen if they pressed their investigations.
These people are well placed to know what was happening to
Dr Farley. Their statement will persuade many they are right
to dismiss the process carried out by the health authorities
as a review of what happened rather than a full inquiry.
If it wants to keep the confidence of the public it serves,
the health trust must now provide a complete answer to what
Dr Farley's colleagues are saying.
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HEALTH
BOSSES ACCUSED OVER TRAGIC DOCTOR
BY JIM MCPHEATOR
16:30 - 10 December 2004
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Doctors
today accused health bosses of ignoring their warnings about
the health of a colleague under investigation.
Partners at Ibstock House surgery said they told Charnwood
and North West Leicestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) that
Dr Stephen Farley's health would deteriorate if an inquiry
was to continue.
The Ibstock GP had been suffering from depression and was
under enormous workload pressures.
He was found hanging in a barn near his house, in Ibstock,
in January.
Yesterday, the regional strategic health authority published
a report commissioned in the wake of the tragedy. It
concluded that Dr Farley's colleagues should have done more
to look after his health.
[How
despicable but how typical when even the Prime Minister and
other Cabinet Ministers seek to shift blame from themselves
- witness the Iraq War and WMD - countrydoctor editor]
Today, the partners at Ibstock House hit back, saying it was
the continued investigation by the PCT that put pressure on
Dr Farley.
In the four years leading to his death, the GP had been
under scrutiny because of an allegedly high referral rate of
patients to hospital.
In a statement issued to all its 10,000 patients, the
surgery said it told the PCT that if the investigation
continued, Dr Farley would be put under continued pressure.
The statement said: "Dr Farley's health problems were
directly attributable to the interventions of the PCG
(primary care group) and PCT and the partners knew that if
the PCT pursued the same course of action as the PCG, Dr
Farley's health would deteriorate.
"Despite informing the PCT about our fears (we note the
PCT denies knowing about Dr Farley's health problems) they
carried on.
"All GPs are under considerable stress and the added
burden of your competence being questioned after 25 years of
successful practice and the prospect of mentoring would be
unbearable to all GPs."
The partners spoke out after the surgery was criticised in
the report.
The nine-member inquiry team had found colleagues
"should have done more to ensure that the PCT was aware
of their concerns about Dr Farley's health".
"Instead, the relationship between the practice and the
PCT was characterised by defensiveness and a lack of
trust."
[Yet
another whitewash for a government department which can do
no wrong. Why were the minions who pursued Dr Farley
not dragged out into the open to explain themselves and why
they lied about not being told by the practice of Dr
Farley's illness? The name of Prof Louise Fitzgerald
will go down in infamy together with Butler and others
- countrydoctor editor]
Ibstock House questioned some of the statistics in the
strategic health authority report, which concluded that Dr
Farley was working too hard.
The surgery said: "A manual audit showed Dr Farley's
workload was 10 per cent higher than that of the next
highest partner, and this figures was mainly due to reviews
of patients.
"The figures were given to the panel, but it has chosen
to ignore them."
A spokesman for Charnwood and North West Leicestershire PCT
said it did not wish to comment on the statement from the
surgery.
[and
who is surprised about that?]
It has issued a statement on the findings of the report.
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic
Health Authority said: "The authority has accepted the
report as a thorough, fair and balanced investigation.
"It recognises the circumstances as having been
complex.
"The report makes sensible and coherent recommendations
and we hope that, on this basis, all parties will reflect on
its content and work together to move forward
positively."
[Will
that include investigating and sacking those individuals who
continued to hound a sick man until he killed himself?]
David Taylor, MP for North West Leicestershire, is
organising a meeting in the new year for Dr Farley's
patients to quiz the strategic health authority.
[How
about Dame Janet Smith investigating the competency of the
administrative and political staff running today's NHS, with
an equal degree of thorough vindictiveness? But
doctors lives count for nothing]
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(13/12./04)
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