Maidstone Weald Labour Party

Patrick Coates has been active in the current NHS changes and asks a question about the National Policy Forum Newsletter February 2007:

To Martin Phillips,
I have just received a copy of the above newsletter, unfortunatley I can not find the website the one I got was dated 2002.
However I should like to make an observation on your article about the workshop you chaired on public services with Health Minister Caroline Flint.
I would like to comment on the last paragrath of the article, that the Commission and Ministers need to do a better job of explaining the health changes.
Since September 2006 i have been on the Patient Reference Panel for Fit for the Future, run by the West Kent PCT, and I have to say, that we are at last getting there, but I think it could have been done a lot quicker.
I say this because the NHS staff given the job were out of their depth, they were either Managers coming up to retirement date or new young staff, neither had any Media qualifications for this work, we had so many changes in personnel/meetings etc, even those staff who put them on could not remember who went to them.
The bad publicity over the local hospitals at Maidstone/ Pembury also shews the same lack of Media awarness in the NHS, this is ment to be a contructive e-mail and I cannot fault the commitment by all the people involved here, but BASIC TRAINING IN HOW TO DEAL WITH THE MEDIA NEEDS TO BE PUT IN PLACE AND SOON THROUGHOUT THE NHS.

Best Wishes
Patrick Coates
Treasurer Maidstone & The Weald CLP

IN REPLY TO THIS...
Dear Patrick,

Thank you for your comments. I have to say that your experience matches that of others across the region and the country. One of the things the Commission is focusing on, at my urging, is how the standard of NHS management can be improved. Media training is important, but so is basic financial competence and an understanding of what service means. As always, there are good and bad managers. What worries me is how many bad managers there are - in a service that is about life-saving and health, it is more important than in any other field.

So you can rest assured that we (including the ministers) recognise the problems.

Martin Phillips
Health Commission