ANE o the main concerns o the public is the quality o oor health care service. Hou dae we ken that it’s bein effective, that it’s safe, an that it’s value fir oor siller? Straichtweys we hae a problem here. Thair is nae independent oangaun monitorin or regulation o oor Scottish health care acteevities. As the international OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) report o February this year remarked: “The Scottish Government and its NHS Scotland is marking its own homework.”

Aa we hae here, guid people, is suspect internal reportin an self-praise, whilk as we aa ken is nae praise ava!

But whit aboot Audit Scotland ah hear ye’se threip!? Last December they wir hauden tae appear at Holyrood afore the Public Accounts Commattee. They wir required tae report oan the effectiveness, efficiency an economy o NHS Scotland. As the pressure group ASAP-NHS pyntit oot in stairk terms tae the commattee, aa their report did wis tae kythe that we are failin tae meet maist o the targets oan waitin times an said wha goat the money fir whit. Oan the questions o Audit Scotland, they answered nane o thaim! We still dinnae ken hou guid or bad oor NHS is! Question: “Whit dae we get fir oor £11 billion?” Audit Scotland: “We dinnae ken.” The commattee gien the Auditor General six o the tawse – an said that neist year they’ll hae tae ettle tae dae a loat better.

ASAP-NHS wull alsae be checkin!

Wi Audit Scotland failin, that disnae lea much. Thair are currently nae public bodies ava makkin siccar that health care is safe an effective, an that oor siller is weel spent. That anely leas the public tae dae the joab theirsels – gin ye want a joab duin weel, dae it yersel! This, o coorse, isnae the wey a modren complex society is supposed tae wark but we’ll gie it a go! There’s aye-an-oan the Freedom of Information Scotland Act (FOISA) – that is, until some politician decides that as it occasionally fuins oot the ill-daeins o government, that it must be abolished or made mair deeficult tae uise.

Eftir a wheen o years challengin ma local NHS board, ah obtained a wheen o critical incident reports kythin mony avoidable daiths that hud taen place. The then Scottish information commissioner, Kevin Dunion, wrote a damnin report oan their obstruction o FOISA. The clinical director fir the Scottish Government, Professor Jason Leitch, wis oan BBC TV sayin that the public shuid hae ready access tae minimally redacted reports.

Weel, ah’m tellin Jason Leitch the day that that husnae heppent! Sleekit health boards conteenue in their secretive weys; NHS Dumfries and Galloway hus nae reports available oanline! The saga conteenues an ma MP Corri Wilson hus stated tae me her willingness tae support calls fir a public inquiry intae the Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board an its puir patient safety record.

The problems apply tae aa NHS boards, we hae seen thaim aa tak an easie-osie attitude tae FOISA. Fourteen months syne ASAP-NHS submitted FOI requests tae NHS Lothian an mindit thaim oan the need tae comply wi the commissioner’s judgement. Eftir five attempts they hae produced

50 documents oan critical incidents that blank oot whit the critical incidents actually are!? Reports sic as these need tae ensure patient confidentiality – but this is a hunner mile ower the tap! Lothian hae produced whit tae onybody wi hauf a brain wid wid be labellt as total clishmaclaiver. Nane o the reports mak ony sense ava. Mony sentences hae mair wirds blanked oot than actually remain. Ane o the reports we hae seen hud a hale paragraph that juist left the wird “and”. Ane o the few readable reports wis anent an “incident” whaur a nurse goat a verra slicht injury pitten up a Christmas tree. Whae’er produced an sanctioned these reports is treatin this serious maitter gin it wir some daft gemme – a gemme they can get awa wi! There is nae regulator o patient safety, naebody tae fuin oot whit really heppens – an if you an I are safe in oor hospitals.

Senior management at NHS Lothian authorised the submission o these reports. Whitane’er the intention o the “fanatical redactor”, the effect is tae cuiver-up whit’s actually gaun oan at NHS Lothian. The samen redactor seems tae be in post in maist, gin no aa, NHS boards. Onywhaur else in the UK we wid hae bin able tae pass this maitter oan tae the healthcare regulator. Here in Scotland we hae naethin. Whit is Jason Leitch daein aboot this? The current reports hae bin sent back tae NHS Lothian CEO Tim Davidson; sic nonsense shuidnae be gaun oan in his name. The board is treatin the maitter as trivial – yet this is people’s lives we’re talkin aboot! ASAP-NHS hae asked him tae try agane – an at the sixth attempt tae get it richt!

The Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, is aareadies involved. We hae informed aa the NHS Lothian MSPs. It is pairt o an issue fir aa MSPs. Fir each an evri wan in the Holyrood debatin chaumer there wull be aboot 15 o their constituents a year whaur their daith is attributable tae major failures in health care or related social care. Mony mair wull hae serious hairm, an an e’en greater nummer suffer whaur the staundart o care isnae whit it shuid be. The problem is that wide spreid that we wull aa ken somebody that’s a victim – e’en thaim wha wark in the NHS are affected. This affects aabody! An thair a financial cost an aa, e’en athoot aa the litigation that oor NHS cannae afford.

Sae, awn up NHS Lothain, an aa thae ither boards, an gie us thae reports in a readable common-sense format. This life or daith maitter shuidnae be left tae guid hairtit public speeritit fowk lik ASAP-NHS tae chase up, an tak the uncredited role o bein Scotland’s health regulator. Please First Meenister can you nou introduce that bill tae create oor regulator? Athoot this thair is nae chaunce o acceptable staundarts o patient safety in Scotland – an mony mair puir innocent fowk wull dee unnecessarily.Rab Wilson is a Scots poet and health campaigner