Religiously clapping the NHS during lockdown may have resulted in ‘dangerous’ results as it was shielded from necessary criticism, according to the health ombudsman.
Rebecca Hilsenrath called for a revamping of the health service’s culture as she warned treating it like a ‘national religion’ could contribute to complacency and failure to reform where necessary.
The ombudsman’s office has submitted its report as evidence for an investigation of the NHS which is due to be published in September.
It also detailed a 50 per cent rise in complaints about the NHS to the ombudsman since Covid hit the UK.
New Health Secretary Wes Streeting ordered the investigation, led by Professor Lord Darzi, when he took up his new role after Labour’s July election victory, as he declared the NHS is ‘broken’.
Religiously clapping the NHS during lockdown may have resulted in ‘dangerous’ results as it was shielded from necessary criticism, according to the health ombudsman. Prime Minister at the time Boris Johnson is seen clapping for carers with partner Carrie Symonds
Rebecca Hilsenrath told The Telegraph ‘no organisation should be beyond constructive criticism’, adding that she thinks the UK’s perception of it’s health service has shifted since the ‘gratitude’ shown during the pandemic
Ms Hilsenrath (pictured) called for a revamping of the health service’s culture as she warned treating it like a ‘national religion’ could contribute to complacency and failure to reform where necessary
Ms Hilsenrath told The Telegraph ‘no organisation should be beyond constructive criticism’, adding that she thinks the UK’s perception of it’s health service has shifted since the ‘gratitude’ shown during the pandemic.
She drew attention to a failure by the NHS to implement the recommendations of inquiries or listen to the grievances of those it lets down, meaning it is not learning as it should from fatal mistakes.
Maternity was cited as a particular area of increasing concern, with complaints regarding it doubling in a year.
In the 2023/24 period, the health ombudsman received almost 27,500 complaints about NHS England – two thirds of which were at least partially upheld – roughly double that of 2011/12, and up nearly 50 per cent on 2020/21.
However, Ms Hilsenrath did push back against the Health Secretary’s assertion that the NHS is broken, despite acknowledging a ‘lower degree of happiness with services’.
She said she did not want to detract from the ‘brilliant things’ happening in some areas of the NHS, whilst being able to have a mature conversation about its shortcomings.
For example, two thirds of maternity units have been deemed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be inadequate or requiring improvement for safety.
Ms Hilsenrath also emphasised that reform of the NHS should not focus on changing its funding, but the way it works, saying that changes needed are about the ‘culture’ rather than its financing.
‘When big things go wrong and terrible things happen you get the NHS saying “never again”, but actually it’s just not true,’ she said.
The ombudsman was speaking against a backdrop of a report finding a ‘series of errors, omissions and misjudgments’ in the treatment of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane – who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia three years before stabbing Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates last year.
The ombudsman was speaking against a backdrop of a report finding a ‘series of errors, omissions and misjudgments’ in the treatment of Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane (seen)
Mr Calocane was sectioned under the Mental Health Act four times amid concerns from his family, but was discharged on each occasion.
Ms Hilsenrath has since urged health services to listen more to their patients and their families.
After a bombshell review last month found the CQC is ‘not fit for purpose’, Mr Streeting has ordered a review of all safety organisations.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman commented that the NHS ‘is broken’, but the department is ‘determined’ to improve it and ‘create an NHS fit for the future’.
‘We will be honest about the challenges facing the health service and will work to tackle them,’ they added.
