The life of Brian

Brian James, Chief Executive Rotherham Hospital Trust

Dr Crippen is grateful to Brian James, the Chief Executive of Rotherham Hospital Trust who has take the trouble respond to the comments on the two (here and here) posts on Gerry Robinson’s NHS docudramas.

Brian says:

As the CE at the centre of this piece, can I make a few points?

We are one of the most successful Trusts in the NHS - through good management and leadership, not bad.

I invited Gerry in because I wanted us to be even better.

Contrary to popular belief, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists DID defend Mr Zaidi's practice, and any attempt to remove him would have cost the Trust many hundreds of thousands in constructive dismissal - not a good use of taxpayers money. Mr Zaidi has restored the sight of many thousands of people in his time here at Rotherham, he has less than a year to go to retirement, and he continues to provide a valuable service to those who only wish to have their operation under a General Anaesthetic. Big business might throw such a loyal servant onto the scrap heap - we are more humane than that, and he continues to provide a valuable service.

As managers in the NHS we operate under enormous constraints - unlike anything Gerry would have ever experienced (would he have succeeded in a business where the salary of staff was determined by Government?).

I would love to pay my Consultants piece rate, and we will be trialling this soon!

The programme told a story, and Gerry had total authorship of it. Much of the commentary contained in the Blog is actually spot on. It was designed around Gerry doing his "I'll show them who's boss" style of management. I learned some things, but Gerry's results were actually very modest compared to other progress we were making (and yes, this was the subject of my letter, and he took it out on me through the piece!).

But I have no regrets. He taught me something, and I hope he learned as well.




Brian James, Chief Exec, Rotherham Hospital

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As I have already said in the comments, we should not lose sight of the fact that Rotherham Hospital was one of the most successful hospitals in the country BEFORE Gerry arrived. It is a three star foundation trust, and has the 5th lowest MRSA rate in the country.

ROTHERHAM hospital's all-out attack on MRSA superbug has resulted in it recording the fifth-lowest rate in the country. The Moorgate hospital has the lowest rate in the north for outbreaks of the superbug, new government figures reveal. (MRSA Watch)

That is no mean achievement, and was not produced for a teledocumentary.

Dr Crippen’s firm view is that the three programmes were superficial and that the “improvements” that Gerry introduced were merely tinkering around on the edges.

Gerry left it to the last ten minutes of the programme to show that if the hospital really increased its throughput, the PCT would not or could not provide the funds. And Patricia Hewitt was not negotiating on that one, as Gerry found out, but as every chief executive in the country could have told him from the beginning. Gerry is a clever guy. I believe he knew that from the beginning too, but could not reveal it as it would have spoilt the docudrama.

In the Newsnight Paxman interview after the programme, Gerry was much more honest. In particular, he said, “the NHS is not a real business.”

As Brian suggests, Gerry may be on his way to being the new John Harvey-Jones reality-TV turn-around guru. And good luck to him. He is a nice guy.

But whilst Gerry is making television programmes, Brian James and all the other Chief Executives in the NHS will soldier on, poorly paid and without the autonomy they so desperately need to make the NHS work.

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Comments under the oringinal article here please.