21 August 2008

Advice for Gordon 6

Gordon, you might like some advice on how not to waste money. Below is an old post you might have missed. It was first published on 14th April 2007. It was entitled '£72m down the drain?' It might be an idea for you to think this one over. You know - reflective practice.



Do you remember the NHS University. No? Well it wasn't around long. And it didn't actually seem to do anything. But somehow it did spend £72,000,000.




Sir William Wells wrote a report on it. The report has been rather hard to come by. The Department of Health declined to release the report under the Freedom of Information Act. An appeal was made to the Information Commissioner who ruled that the department should disclose the report. The Department of Health appealed against the decision to the Information Tribunal. There was going to be a hearing. Last week just before the hearing the appeal was withdrawn. Apparently it is still not possible for Joe Public to get the report from the Department of Health. The civil servant with the key to the filing cabinet is on leave. But you can get it here.

Why did the Department of Health apparently play dirty in not immediately agreeing to release this report? Could it be this sentence?



The Department of Health is exposed to significant embarrassment if the value for money delivered by the NHSU were to be probed?





The Department of Health has problems with its record keeping. But are some of them deliberate?

Well done Rod Ward whose perseverance managed to bring the Wells report into the public domain. Why don't journalists do this sort of thing? Idle lot journalists.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Corporate universities were management fad of the moment around the turn of the century - I remember our CEO, never one to miss out on an opportunity for management fad, being taken with the idea, but the senior management quietly squelched it.

My memory is that Rank Xerox started it, but I haven't been able to track that down.

Dr Grumble said...

Thanks, Potentilla. I do hope your post means you are feeling better.

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

Great journalism from you though Dr Grumble. Michelle

Dr Grumble said...

It's kind of you to say so, Michelle, but it's Rod Ward who deserves all the credit.

The Little Medic said...

But what was it actually supposed to do...? *confused*
What a waste of cash.

Dr Grumble said...

What it was supposed to do, little medic, appears to have been the main problem.

Anonymous said...

Belated yes thank-you - currently eagerly awaiting the results of yesterday's bloods which may even show my bilirubin back in the normal range! Or nearly anyway. BTW, do you have a convenient anonymous email address? contact me through our site, if you like.

Rod said...

Thank you for your compliments about my perseverance, but I was surprised to see this post as these events occurred in April 2007.

A pretty version of the report has been available from the DoH web site since 17 April 2007 here
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/FreedomOfInformation/Freedomofinformationpublicationschemefeedback/FOIreleases/DH_073921

Dr Grumble said...

Thanks Rod.