Another rotten culture, another political risk on the NHS

The allegations of a cover-up at Colchester General Hospital suggest something rotten in a culture, once again. The police have been called in by the Care Quality Commission to investigate claims that documents about patients’ care were falsified and that managers bullied staff into doing this so that cancer care at CGH could meet its targets. Bernard Jenkin, the local MP, placed great emphasis in his interview on Today on the problems with culture in the NHS, which Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is trying to resolve with a series of reforms to NHS leadership.

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But there will inevitably be a row about the role of targets in this scandal as well, given the allegations centre around falsified documents to give the impression CGH cancer care was meeting its targets. Targets don’t make people take rotten decisions, though, people create a culture in which they see rotten decisions as normal and acceptable.