SCAPEGOATS
Note bene Alan Johnson I n his report on the multiple deaths, gross neglect and callous indifference to suffering manifested in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Robert Francis QC said he did not want to identify scapegoats. [1] Quite right too, why identify scapegoats when you have real people to be held to account. This should involve those directly responsible for neglect but also embrace Alan Johnson former Health Minister and the Labour Government with its obsession with Foundation status, forcing this upon Mid Staffs despite the fact that the area was too small. This obsession led to a primacy of cost cutting before all other considerations. I watched Johnson on This Week on the BBC IPlayer, it is still available [09.02.12]. [2] His smug satisfaction and complacency in the face of such a criminal catastrophe beggared belief. He and Blair should be held to account along with all the countless medical professional who betrayed their calling. [1] ...