Sloven financial irregularities (that is, bunging apparently endless amounts of public dosh to mates for little or no return) hit the news on Friday, via Michael Buchanan. Today Chris Hatton published his analysis of the Sloven (or Sudden Wealth) 2015/16 Annual Report. I can’t recommend reading this post enough. Just one titbit (and there are so many) is that KP simply cut and pasted the last paragraph of her closing statement from the previous Annual Report. Unbelievable action in any annual report, but breathtaking given the content and context. The end of the paragraph states:
Notwithstanding this, my review confirms that the Trust is taking appropriate actions to deliver the agreed undertakings and ensure compliance with the Trust’s provider licence and to address any weaknesses in the system of internal control.
Those failings and enforcement notices clearly just roll over yearly. Sickening demonstration of the contempt the Sloven board have for patients, staff, regulators and the wider NHS, and the public. And further indication the Sloves (or Suddens) are not capable of improvement.
What is actually going on here?
Let’s have a little look see at what’s happened since the Mazars review was published:
- In December 2015 Jeremy Hunt announced the CQC would go in and inspect Sloven again with a focus on death reporting.
- In April, the CQC announced serious (continuing) failings.
- Ball over to NHS Improvement who send in Clive Bell as Improvement Director and, subsequently, Tim Smart as Interim Board Chair.
- Tim Smart did a tinpot investigation (no family involvement), Katrina Percy was subjected to six hours of psychometric tests and he gave the board a clean bill of health. A week ago he commended the performance of the board to the Council of Governors (audio from 17.10 here…)
So blinking awkward. In the light of the Buch-Hatt findings this is a serious egg on the face situation for Smart (who signed off the Annual Report) and Jim Mackey (CEO of NHS Improvement). It also offers some chunky old clues about where pro-Percy HQ is based. [And believe me, many people are asking this question…] Jezza took action, the CQC took action, things get snarled up in an NHS Improvement pretend party. Interestingly, a Sloven staff fairy heard that Sloven exec, Paul Streat (who worked at, er, NHS Improvement before joining the trust) was arrogant and dismissive about #JusticeforLB in a Senior Viral training day.
Mmm…
We heard yesterday a rumour that KP won’t be returning from her holiday after pressure from the Department of Health. Jezza now has Alistair Burt’s (love him) portfolio for mental health/learning disability issues. He has the ball firmly back in his court. Here’s hoping he takes action (or further action if Percy has been pushed) and removes other culpable board members. The rot in that room is extensive.
He should then perhaps ask questions of Mackey and his merry band. It really ain’t the job of campaigners and journalists to reveal what is in full sight of NHS Improvement, NHS England and the Department of Health.
mydaftlife 
From Dee Speers: There are no coherent words to describe this Sloven Saga. Total respect Sara Ryan and how dare they? “Tim Smart did a tinpot investigation (no family involvement), Katrina Percy was subjected to six hours of psychometric tests and he gave the board a clean bill of health” How bloody convenient!.
They sure have a way of whitewashing the obvious!
Not wanting to pile on more pain but which consultancy applied and interpreted the
psychometrics ?
Trump school of copy and paste.
Brilliant work by Chris Hatton
Congratulations on exposing Southern Health. I have been watching what the NHS does to people with learning disabilities and/or mental health problems for thirty years now and its not getting any better. I live in north Wales and what’s gone up here has to be seen to be believed – serious malpractice and negligence, numerous psychiatric patient deaths, the same doctors/staff/managers the subject of serious complaints and yet no-one is ever disciplined yet alone dismissed – even when evidence of serious wrongdoing and criminal conduct has been produced. The GMC were given this evidence and concerns have been raised repeatedly by many people but still no action from them. The Welsh Government were also been given this evidence some years ago and the Health Board is now in special measures – but the deaths continue, no doctor has yet been dismissed and managers are simply shifted around the system when their failures become too obvious to conceal. The mental health services in the region have such a toxic reputation that the Health Board is unable to recruit. The Welsh Government don’t seem to understand that good staff will continue to refuse to come and work here unless the highly problematic staff are removed. Patients who complain are usually refused further treatment and subjected to a Grade A character assassination. I was subjected to such a severe campaign of abuse, harassment and threats that I left the area. There were witnesses to some of this but guess what – those involved are still in their jobs. The combination of a complacent corrupt medical establishment and neoliberal welfare reform has made the NHS a very dangerous place for some vulnerable people. Its taken its toll on some staff as well – two psychiatrists in one unit in Bangor committed suicide…
Hi Sara
Just read your tweet – just to clarify, the gross abuses and mismanagement that I referred to above involved the mental health services rather than learning disability services. I know less about the learning disability services in the region – for years they were managed by the same bunch of crooks/incompetents in the form of a combined mental health/learning disability service but I’m not sure whether that’s still the case. I certainly know that some carers/families of learning disabled people were having great trouble getting support from the statutory services. And I know of a few cases of people with learning disabilities who also experienced mental health problems who were just as callously treated as the rest of the population who were unfortunate enough to experience mental health problems. There was one case in which people were begging a psychiatrist to see one particular patient with a learning disability who was also feared to have developed a psychosis but the psychiatrist flatly refused to see him – no explanation why. But then this particular psychiatrist was well known for refusing to see patients without giving a reason, as were a number of his colleagues. ..
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