Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal »
Matt James runs fingerprint-recognition technology firm UKB Security »
James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Phil Renton is managing director of North East IT empire Croft »
Matthew Rippon is an IP lawyer for BHP Law »
Formerly editor of a national business lifestyle magazine, Jez Davison is a business writer for the Evening Gazette in Teesside »
Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
Accessibilty Champion Steve Wilkinson on the importance of inclusion »
Shared Interest Staff at Newcastle's fair trade firm blog on their latest international missions »
PR man David Honeywell on raising your profile in the right places »
Marion Bernard is from NorthStar Equity Investors »
Caroline Theobald is the Managing Director of Bridge Club Ltd »
John Barton of Renew, on the region's low carbon and sustainable energy agenda »
Paul Williamson is Senior Partner at Deloitte »
Stephen Hall is Tax Partner at Deloitte »If you'll excuse me returning to a subject that I've harped on about before, the shocking revelations (a cliché maybe, but it is quite accurate in this instance) about the goings-on at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust ought to raise once again the question marks over the outcomes culture that is so prevalent currently.
I drove home on Wednesday evening listening to a long interview with the Health Secretary Alan Johnson on Radio 4's PM programme. There was some suggestion that the need to comply with requirement to process 98% of A&E admissions within 4 hours had led to the disgraceful corner cutting that the recent Inquiry revealed. Johnson said, quite rightly, that there was simply no excuse for the mismanagement that had taken place. He was unable to be so dogmatic when dealing with the fact that NHS trusts around the country have created 'transition' wards so that patients can be temporarily admitted, thereby satisfying the criteria.
It reminded me of the GP surgery that I attend from time to time. Not long after I moved to the neighbourhood, I tried to make an appointment for later in the week, only to be told that I was only allowed to make an appointment for the very next day. Why was this? Because, I was told, it was the Government's rules and they had to comply with them. In fact, the rule is simply a target that all patients must receive a GP's appointment within 48 hours of requesting one. The issue was raised in a Question Time challenge to Tony Blair during the last election campaign. I remember that show being staged in Sedgefield and wondering while watching just how many in the audience use the same Darlington surgery as me.
Imposing a rule on themselves that appointments may only be given for the next day and those wanting appointments later than that must call the day before was simply the surgery's way of making sure that the target was never missed. The result was that the booking line opened at 8.00 a.m. and by about 8.15 all the available appointments would be gone. Fortunately, this rule has been changed.
There is also an echo in the recent stories concerning the freedom that Northern Rock was given right up to its imminent collapse to continue to grant 100%+ mortgages. FSA rules permitted this practice, apparently. Contrast that with the "Governor's eyebrow" test that existed beyond the mountains of legislation introduced along with the FSA and its predecessors in the 80's and 90's. I may only have been 18 at the time of the Big Bang in the square mile, but the only collapse I can think of in modern times before that was BCCI, and that was down to fraud on a massive scale rather than the mismanagement and incompetence we've seen more recently. Since then, we've had a stream of them, starting with Equitable Life - another story that's surfaced again this week.
Whole forests sacrifice their collective lives so that our judges are equipped with comprehensive sentencing guidelines. Now Patricia Hewitt wants to codify the DPP's discretion over whether to prosecute in assisted suicide cases. For crying out loud.
My manifesto is not complicated. In fact, you could say that its simplicity is its strength. It goes like this. Find the best people you can who are enthusiastic about the task in hand. Train them well and give them the resources they need. Then get out of the way and let them do the flippin' job.
This has been a party political broadcast on behalf of the Cynical Party...
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