WirralPC Posted October 6, 2014 Author Report Posted October 6, 2014 Two Freedom of Information / Data Protection professional Twitterati have been chipping in today with their pearls of wisdom: https://twitter.com/bainesy1969/status/519018528238997505
megilleland Posted October 7, 2014 Report Posted October 7, 2014 I'm not sure that's right Dippyhippy. I think they stopped gagging whistleblowers only and are still using compromise agreements coupled with what they call 'confidentiality clauses'. These have exactly the same effect as gagging clauses. Reputation is paramount and they shut people up just as effectively. The idea of doing this first came up in an NHS directive from 1998. This was roundly ignored by unaccountable managers under horrid head honcho David Nicholson until recently. In the last 5 years on Wirral we have witnessed senior officers mostly in the council, but also in the NHS suspended on full pay for up to a year and then made “redundant†from key posts. They leave with “no case to answer†halos around their heads, a sack full of money and go straight into another senior post elsewhere in the country. It would seem their “career†is not actually about conscientiously doing the job to which they were appointed, but more about plotting lucrative exits. It’s become a sort of Deal or No Deal, but without the blue boxes. Tuesday 7 October 2014 in Hereford Times News by Bill Tanner, Reporter Wye Valley NHS Trust faces "perfect storm" over winter WYE Valley NHS Trust heads into winter facing a “perfect storm†with a budget deficit of more than £5 million, unprecedented emergency demand and the loss of its chief operating officer. Significant pressures on A&E and bed availability at Hereford County Hospital already far exceed those this time last year as high attendances and, in particular, high levels of emergency medical admissions continue. Over a single day last month 57 emergency admissions were handled by the hospital over a 24 hour period, which represents just under one third of its total adult bed base. Work continues across the county’s health and social care economy on a resilience plan for winter that can also improve the trust’s performance towards key NHS targets. Those key targets not met over August include four hour waits in A&E, ambulance handovers, and cancelled operations. The resilience plan has gone to NHS England and the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) for scrutiny and approval. Amongst its initiatives were: • The creation of additional winter contingency beds at Hereford County Hospital and Bromyard Community Hospital. • The establishment of additional rapid access, ‘discharge to assess’ beds in the community, to assess care needs for patients no longer needing hospital beds. • Continuing the deployment of GPs to late shifts within A&E. Additional actions being taken by the trust but not in the plan include: • The creation of a Frailty Assessment Unit within the current Acute Admissions Unit. • The recruitment of an additional acute medicine physicians. • The deployment of the NHS England Area Teams Medical Director in the Trust for 2 days a week to assist with the urgent care improvements. Against this background, the trust’s chief operating officer Neil Doverty, who has overseen improvements to clinical services so far, is leaving to become CEO to Peterborough and Stamford NHS Foundation Trust. The search for both a substantive CEO an interim appointment to ensure continuity as the trust moves into winter mode is underway. With A&E attendance and emergency activity demand staying significantly above planned contracted levels, the impact on elective services is said to be “profoundâ€. This impact is demonstrated in a repeat marginal fail against the 18 week referral to treatment target, high levels of planned surgery cancellations and high number of bed days lost in surgery. The trust has arranged for additional day case elective beds at the County next month to bring down the number of surgical patients experiencing late cancellations because of “excessively high†emergency referrals. Nor is the trust’s financial position getting any easier. The reported month 5 budget deficit was £5.38 million - £1.38 million behind plan. To the trust, this position primarily reflects the “significant and on-going†operational pressures it is under. There is now a “significant likelihood†that the trust will not be able to deliver the £9m deficit that was agreed in the financial plan. Talks between the trust and the TDA over options to address the deficit are underway. Neil Doverty didn't stay long, he only joined the Trust in May 2013. You don't want to be around when a budget deficit of £9 million and unprecedented emergency demand is on the cards.
Cambo Posted October 7, 2014 Report Posted October 7, 2014 When the hospital was built it was to small there were never going to be enough beds where as before we had two hospitals & a eye hospital now we have one. but yet we have a growing population & a ageing one,not to mention all the new house there talking about building how's the NHS going to cope in the future if there struggling now? I'd say not very well!
megilleland Posted October 8, 2014 Report Posted October 8, 2014 Neil Doverty didn't stay long, he only joined the Trust in May 2013. You don't want to be around when a budget deficit of £9 million and unprecedented emergency demand is on the cards. Came across this and I imagine it is the same Mr Doverty. The chase to the top for these individuals knows no bars.
flamboyant Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 For those of you who missed the news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29628557
WirralPC Posted October 18, 2014 Author Report Posted October 18, 2014 Herefordshire Council have until next Tuesday (2 working days) to respond to the following two recent FoI requests, both to do with compromise and COT3 agreements: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/monetary_totals_attached_to_cot3_2 https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/total_number_of_compromise_agree_2
dippyhippy Posted October 18, 2014 Report Posted October 18, 2014 Hi Paul, I see that both requests are already "delayed" as a response should have been due on the 17th October - have I read that right?? Well done for persevering with this. It will very illuminating to see what facts these requests bring to the surface.
WirralPC Posted October 18, 2014 Author Report Posted October 18, 2014 Weird. My PC says 21st and mobile phone says 17th! Better give them 'til Tuesday.
flamboyant Posted October 18, 2014 Report Posted October 18, 2014 Think they would prefer you to what till the cows come home! Lol
WirralPC Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Posted October 20, 2014 Answers came in this afternoon for both FOI requests: 1. Total number of compromise agreements. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/total_number_of_compromise_agree_2?nocache=incoming-574480#incoming-574480 2. Monetary totals attached to COT3 and compromise agreements. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/monetary_totals_attached_to_cot3_2?nocache=incoming-574487#incoming-574487
WirralPC Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Posted October 20, 2014 Answers came in this afternoon for both FOI requests: 1. Total number of compromise agreements. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/total_number_of_compromise_agree_2?nocache=incoming-574480#incoming-574480 2. Monetary totals attached to COT3 and compromise agreements. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/monetary_totals_attached_to_cot3_2?nocache=incoming-574487#incoming-574487
WirralPC Posted October 22, 2014 Author Report Posted October 22, 2014 A few pages back, Megilleland kindly posted this article from the Worcester News about £4.3 million of exit packages for council staff: http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/regional/worcestershire/11488851.__4_3m_on__exit_packages__for_staff_at_Worcestershire_County_Council/?ref=arc Here's the answer to a subsequent FOI request... It's a familiar story. They've been finding the cash for loads more compromise agreements. Figures start in January 2011... https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/updated_totals_for_compromise_se?nocache=incoming-575185#incoming-575185 I contacted journalist Tom Edwards of the Worcester News yesterday, but no response so far.
dippyhippy Posted October 22, 2014 Report Posted October 22, 2014 I think I probably speak for quite a few when I say how much I appreciate the time and effort you are putting into this Paul.
Cambo Posted October 22, 2014 Report Posted October 22, 2014 Yes I second that dippy sterling work mr Cardin you deserve a medal as the bas.tards like to grid you down & hope your go away, thankfully you haven't instead sticking to the task @ hand like superglue!
WirralPC Posted October 24, 2014 Author Report Posted October 24, 2014 Thanks Dippy and Cambo. Really appreciate that. I've been busy on Wirral too, where a female senior officer was paid £48,000 of public money, apparently for 'hurt feelings' just over a year ago. There was never any member scrutiny, assessment of detriment suffered, or any public oversight. And just to rub it in, the CEO and leader combined to close ranks and gag all councillors. This issue was what gave rise to the original FoI request at Wirral: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/payouts_to_officers_of_wirral_co And this matches almost word for word the later Herefordshire FoI about the bullying of disabled staff. The issues raised are coming to a head today when Frank Field (Birkenhead MP) says he will "hammer out" a matching pay off (£48,000) for a group of Highways contract whistleblowers. But as usual with abusive councils and local MPs ..........all is not quite as it seems. http://wirralinittogether.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/48000-to-you-know-who-franks-demand-dragging-their-feet-in-brighton-street/
GrowlTiger Posted October 24, 2014 Report Posted October 24, 2014 Excellent report on your Blog Paul. If you and John Brace were councillors I suspect some heads would be banged together and openness and transparency would emerge. I really don’t know what the fragrant Frank is up to, but I would love to be a fly on the wall at the hammers at dawn meeting.
dippyhippy Posted October 24, 2014 Report Posted October 24, 2014 Brilliant Paul! I have been reading up on the background to this, via your excellent site. A reluctance to part with any information, decisions made by just one or two people, closing ranks and keeping quiet.....blimey, Hereford and The Wirral have so much in common! Quite frightening really, that up and down the country, this appears to be acceptable behaviour and normal practise.
WirralPC Posted October 24, 2014 Author Report Posted October 24, 2014 Keep checking back as I've been uncovering more and more murky goings on !
Cambo Posted October 24, 2014 Report Posted October 24, 2014 Just off topic there was a robbery today outside Morrisons in Ross two men robbed a brief case from security guards the get away car was found later abounded it had been stolen from merseyside! Just reading through mr Cardin FOI I clicked on a link for Liverpool echo came across this story dated 30th July Masked thugs steal cashbox containing £40,000 in broad daylight outside supermarket 24 October 2014 11:40 AM Rebecca Koncienzcy Two men made off in getaway car waiting round the corner after confronting security guard Can you identify these men? Masked thugs stole a box of cash of £40,000 outside a busy supermarket in broad daylight. It is believed two men in balaclavas approached a security guard carrying a cash box outside Morrisons on Park Road, Ormskirk . They told the security guard to drop the box and made off with the container, thought to have approximately £40,000 inside at around 2pm on Wednesday, July 30. Lancashire Police has now released images of two men they want to speak to in connection with a cash in transit robbery. Can you identify these men? It is believed the men, thought to be from Liverpool with connection to Blackpool, made off in a Black BMW convertible which was waiting for them on Aughton Street. The black box was later found smashed on Black Moss Lane. Could the two be connected???
level80 Posted November 2, 2014 Report Posted November 2, 2014 Excellent report on your Blog Paul. If you and John Brace were councillors I suspect some heads would be banged together and openness and transparency would emerge. I really don’t know what the fragrant Frank is up to, but I would love to be a fly on the wall at the hammers at dawn meeting. I used to stand in elections, most I got was 2nd with 699 votes, but my own party decided the prospect of me being a councillor was too scary so stabbed me in the back. So I sued them, won in court. Then a few weeks later got more votes than them and shoved them into last place (for the first time in years). I was an elected public official for a couple of one year terms of office in my student days. That was when I was in my mid-20s. However, if you want to look at what Frank's up to see the footage of last Thursday's Birkenhead Constituency Committee that I uploaded to Youtube (he chair it). My they even had "young people" speaking at that meeting. Didn't point the camera at them after the fiasco on Tuesday evening. No I'm not falling for that trap. If they won't let me film a 16 year old male with a disability on Tuesday, I'm not filming four female young people on Thursday. No Thursday was a trap and I feel set up!!!
dippyhippy Posted November 2, 2014 Report Posted November 2, 2014 Any chance you could post a link to it? I wouldn't mind having a gander at that John.
WirralPC Posted November 2, 2014 Author Report Posted November 2, 2014 Here they are Dippy... Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sStQFmNpY08 Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t7tVw8Vc7s Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhi3btdcj9I Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ryibuKeHX8 Part 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywGLwjzp1Q Part 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OauvKgJ4Mo4
dippyhippy Posted November 2, 2014 Report Posted November 2, 2014 Cheers Paul......I shall take a look!
WirralPC Posted November 2, 2014 Author Report Posted November 2, 2014 Good luck with that Dippy! John, you deserve a medal.
level80 Posted November 3, 2014 Report Posted November 3, 2014 None of the disabled people who were bullied, and whose employment tribunal claims were 'bought off' have contacted me yet. I have plenty of legal invoices from Wirral Council (unpublished as yet) about HR matters, however as you can guess they are heavily redacted!!! Mind you, the way I feel about Wirral Council at the moment I might just start publishing them. Petulant is one of the words they tried to black out, but it seems their HR and legal departments are very careful not to have the details leak out!!!
WirralPC Posted November 3, 2014 Author Report Posted November 3, 2014 Yes John, and here's a visual representation (with suitable background music) on how very careful they can be. The subject matter is the whitewash (blackwash?!) into the illegal, destructive, but money-saving four week delay in care that was the brainchild of long-departed Rick O'Brien - who found an escape hatch and was delighted to fall into the grateful arms of the NHS. People died forseeably & avoidably, and all they could do was serve up a black hole, 84 pages of it, amid repeated bogus claims to "openness & transparency":
megilleland Posted November 3, 2014 Report Posted November 3, 2014 Transparency at its worst. This is happening throughout all areas and levels of government. People open your eyes before we are all permanently in the dark.
GrowlTiger Posted November 3, 2014 Report Posted November 3, 2014 The way it’s going I wouldn’t be surprised if John came across an invoice for a consultant hired by WBC to advise it how to deal with him! (Appropriately redacted of course.) The lot of them together haven’t got the brain or integrity of John Brace and the one thing they hate is the truth.
WirralPC Posted November 3, 2014 Author Report Posted November 3, 2014 Thanks Dippy and Cambo. Really appreciate that. I've been busy on Wirral too, where a female senior officer was paid £48,000 of public money, apparently for 'hurt feelings' just over a year ago. There was never any member scrutiny, assessment of detriment suffered, or any public oversight. And just to rub it in, the CEO and leader combined to close ranks and gag all councillors. This issue was what gave rise to the original FoI request at Wirral: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/payouts_to_officers_of_wirral_co And this matches almost word for word the later Herefordshire FoI about the bullying of disabled staff. The issues raised are coming to a head today when Frank Field (Birkenhead MP) says he will "hammer out" a matching pay off (£48,000) for a group of Highways contract whistleblowers. But as usual with abusive councils and local MPs ..........all is not quite as it seems. http://wirralinittogether.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/48000-to-you-know-who-franks-demand-dragging-their-feet-in-brighton-street/ A new FoI request goes in for everything to do with the "Pay my whistleblowers £48,000, hammering it out" meeting between Frank Field MP and CEO Graham Burgess: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/please_provide_details_of_meetin/new
megilleland Posted November 3, 2014 Report Posted November 3, 2014 In The Guardian today: MPs’ expenses: official records from scandal-hit era have been destroyed Destruction of pre-2010 records means there is no longer any chance of investigating authorities reviving old cases All official records of MPs’ expenses from the scandal-hit era before 2010 have now been destroyed by the Commons authorities, it has emerged. The disposal of the records was revealed in a letter to Conservative activists who made a complaint about the expenses of their local MP relating to claims between 2004 and 2010. According to the Telegraph, Kathryn Hudson, the standards commissioner, wrote back saying: “All records relating to expenses claims before 2010 have now been destroyed. No unredacted information is now available here nor any notes of conversations or advice given … which might establish the facts.â€
Recommended Posts