So the latest Sloven shitfest hit the fan yesterday. Michael Buchanan continuing to shine a light on the murkiest of murky practices in the dank and musty corridors of Sloven towers. Reading the latest unfolding in a sneaky preview, we thought (again) game over. Stupidly. [LB died, CQC failings, Verita, repeatedly negative coronial determinations, CQC failings, Mazars and further CQC failings…] As the day unfolded, it was back to now familiar and stale feelings of incredulity, disbelief and despair.

Background

Basically (thanks to George Julian for spotting this gem) Katrina Percy apparently set up a programme of leadership development in 2009 which she later ‘follows on’ from as CEO of Sloven. [Note how she switches to ‘I’ when it comes to claiming a bit of glory. Elbowing staff and the ubiquitous ‘we’ out of the way when it comes to relentless and shallow self promotion…]

The story exposed how this ‘investment’ (a cracking misnomer) spiralled 2000% over the original tender amount (from around £300k to £5.365m). For a naff old programme called, er, Going Viral. Oh, and the tender went to an associate of KP; Chris Martin and Talent Works. Cosy. (Apparently, by the end of the current contract CM/Talent Works will receive £9m… £9million). A second associate, Paul Gray, who used to work with KP in pre-Sloven times has earned £602,000 since 2011 without bidding for a contract. Over half a million pounds… Without bidding for a contract.

What is Going Viral?

Good question. We don’t know because Sloven has removed the link to the programme on their website. Shifty move given the weight of the public gaze on what £5m buys. But, in true viral fashion, it has mutated into other cash cows; Senior Viral, Viral Essentials and Gone Viral. [I know].

Handily there are a few vimeos (not) explaining what Senior Viral is. For example:

This includes gems like One of the biggest priorities has to be the number of complex priorities that staff are having to work with” (unknown woman) and, as baffling, So Sloven is big enough almost to be a system its own but I guess we probably need to think about the wider system… (Chris Gordon). It’s taken me about 20 minutes to transcribe two sentences as I kept being overcome with hysterical laughter. £5.365m…

Are.these.really.executive.board.members?

What a painfully awkward situation. £millions spent on a ‘leadership programme’ run by mates so publicly exposed, four (seven) years after inception. In an organisation that continues to fail…

Rest and recuperation

Not surprisingly twitter nearly collapsed under the weight of people tweeting the link to the BBC story throughout the day. Spending cuts, a buckling NHS, ‘post-truth’ politics, etc, etc, make the continuing utter wrongness of Sloven practices sharper and clearer to us herbs.

Later in the afternoon chat (rage) rightly returned to how such sums of money could possibly be necessary for individual trusts to spend (remember there is in existence an NHS Leadership Academy), and what the £5.365 (£9m) could have funded…

Asda pillows. £6 a pop.

If nothing else, that money could have bought 894,167 pillows. Nearly a million pillows.

Apparently NHS Improvement are saying that Sloven have done nothing wrong. Procurement processes have been followed. (Mackey and his bunch of yes bods on fire as ever). I think [hope has long gone] this is the touch paper to finally bring this foul, toxic and beyond brutal charade to a close.

Those who have refused to listen for whatever reasons. Those who have refused to act for whatever reasons. Those who so readily discounted the life of our beautiful, beautiful boy, along with so many others [howl] for whatever reasons. Those who watch and read what is happening and do fuck all for whatever reason…

There must come a tipping point.  A point at which those who have taken the chunky salary, who pretend they are ‘doing their job’, who kid themselves the bigger picture is more important than the odd (numerous) casualties along the way, are forced to admit something is seriously off. A point at which even the family, friends and colleagues of those who can, start to shake them, or more vigorously shake them, to the point at which the tinted specs finally fall off.

The spotlight has been on Sloven for the last few years now. It is obvious to pretty much everyone there are serious failings and a toxic culture at board level. These are reflected in these financial irregularities and the use of the CEO’s mates (over half a £million without bidding for a contract?). (As Roy Lilley said on the Today programme, despite what Sloven say, these aren’t ‘specialist’ tasks that only a small number of organisations can deliver.) The Sloven board are failing patients and bringing themselves and the various NHS organisations around them into disrepute.

It’s time for action.