'The NHS is a wonderful institution. It largely provides what its founders intended: medical care for all from cradle to grave, free at the point of use and funded by general taxation. Nevertheless, it’s not perfect. Scandals at the Bristol Children’s Heart Unit and, more recently, at Stafford General Hospital, Furness General Hospital and Heart of England Foundation Trust, have shaken public confidence. Abysmal care and, worse, the cover-up of patient harm and avoidable death, have come to light. It is against this background that I offer my own story. I was one of those doctors who spoke up for patients and suffered the consequences…'
The scandals of poor care and repeated cover-ups in the NHS in recent years have raised serious questions about the mistreatment of NHS whistleblowers. This book is autobiographical and offers the first detailed account of the ruin of a highly competent senior doctor who blew the whistle.
Dr David Drew was a NHS consultant at Walsall Manor Hospital for over 19 years, including 7 spent as head of the paediatric department, before ongoing concerns over the state of poor care led him to become a whistleblower. This put him on a collision course with senior NHS hospital managers. Removed as head of department, he was suspended on trumped up charges, faced allegations of mental illness and disciplinary action and was dismissed for Gross Misconduct and Insubordination.
David’s eye-opening account gives a unique insight into the NHS procedures that are used to dispose of senior management’s critics – at the cost of patient care.