A consultant who works at Great Ormond Street Hospital came to see me at surgery today. He wanted to tell me his side of the story about the ‘no confidence’ letter signed by around forty doctors et al a little while back. He wanted me to know that he had worked there a number of years and whilst there were issues about one thing or another – he was happy with the management and felt they did a good job.

His telling about the big meeting of consultants that took place at the time of the ‘no confidence’ letter was that the majority of consultants at that meeting felt that they did have confidence in the management and that several consultants who had been signatories to the letter stood up and said they would never have signed the letter if they had known it was going to get publicised. He also said that the management had now hired an external medical director so that anyone with concerns could raise their issues in confidence.

I have posted on my blog a few times about Great Ormond Street, Baby Peter and Kim Holt – and I have been very concerned about a number of issues around management at GOSH, whistleblowers and their treatment and the vote of ‘no confidence’. I have, over the last year or so, been contacted and in one case  met up with doctors from Great Ormond Street who have described an atmosphere of intimidation and fear for their professional future if they rocked the boat.

It is not my role to judge, decide or intervene in the running of the hospital – but it is my role to raise issues of concern – which I have done. I have done it in Parliament and directly with Great Ormond Street. My concerns at this point in time still remain. But I was grateful for this doctor’s visit to me to put his views on the record. And in the pursuit of fairness am posting his views here – which he was very happy for me to do.