This follows on from the previous post “Where to begin with Stafford NHS ?”
Nothing short of a disaster has happened at Mid-Stafford NHS Trust, where in the order of 1200 elderly patients died over and above the normal mortality rate. After a lengthy Public Enquiry, chaired by Robert Francis QC, we have :-
290 RECOMMENDATIONS to put the NHS in order !
The aspiration is unbelievably un-aspirational ——- ” to do no harm “.
The Francis report took over a year to write, interviewed hundreds of witnesses and then spewed out thousands of words. Years after the fatal events in Mid-Stafford NHS Trust had taken place. None the less it could have profound implications for the NHS IF it is acted upon.
Now the problem becomes :—-
Who is overall in charge of implementing the recommendations ?
The answer seems to be everybody —— and nobody. Everybody, in so far as the recommendations include all those who work in the NHS. All 1.3 million of them !
And nobody, since no-one will admit to being in overall control. Certainly not Sir David Nicholson, who is the head of the Department of Health. Even less so the Government who will not acknowledge that the NHS is being overwhelmed by frail elderly people and there is not enough money to treat them properly in the way it is currently being done.
So what if anything other than political breast beating and hot air, will happen now ?
My next few posts will compare what I have been calling for over the last few years in my GrumbleSmiles blog with the recommendations in the Francis report.
GrumbleSmiles 
It is becoming interesting following the NHS. Tonight ‘Go Friday’ on the national news ITV Leeds General Hospital Childrens ward Heart Operations department has been forbidden for the next few days to conduct heart operations (Mortallity rate too high???).
Transpose this into Old persons welfare and hospital care-If one lives in a geriatic neighbour hood or district, and the grim reaper calls! Then will the geriatric wards be closed??
Or is it like the childrens hospitals? Will one be transported to a centre of excellance (There are I believe only a limited number of Childrens Hospitals that under the government and NHS Rules allowed to treat ailing/sick children, and the parents/families have to put up with the logisitics of transport and accommodation.
Now back to the geriatric! Are we to be sent to a centre of excellence with copious burial grounds and a decent crem nearby? I wonder? And how do the elderly cope with the upheaval of travel and accommodation far from ones home town? Where has the compassion and reason gone too? and where have the acceptable risks gone? Should this not be a point of discussion for all local NHS Groups. One has to have dignity and compassion in thier latter life.