I haven't had to call on this service, but I've been thinking for a while now that GP's are forever complaining of their workload so why can't they accept lower wages, and use the extra money employing more doctors in their practice. Perhaps then there would be enough of them to provide an out of hours service to their patients. Bet they wouldn't go for that!

I am really saddened by your response. I think the NHS has been losing the best of its staff for some years now for the reasons you give, which perhaps explains why it's in the state that it is. I have never worked in the NHS but have been in a similar work situation where I've felt that I've been banging my head against a brick wall. I stood, I fought and I failed, but I would do exactly the same again, because I believed it to be the right thing. I know it can be soul-destroying. It is interesting that you feel that individuals within the NHS are being held accountable and responsible by the government, because that's not been my experience. I have big issues with my local hospital. I raised them once and got my soothing letter. I took it no further and now deeply regret it, because those same issues (and more) remained a year later with catastrophic results for my family. I know it must be demoralising to feel constantly criticised, but the nurses are in the 'line of fire', whereas the administrators are sitting comfortably out of sight. It is the hospital managers' heads that I would like to see roll. I'm not terribly confident that my complaint will have a positive outcome, but if you see things are wrong, doing nothing at all is just not an option. There's a tiny part of me that still believes.

With such passion, it's a shame (if) you no longer work for the NHS. I wouldn't worry about libel. Although the Government is trying to crack down on it, we still have freedom of speech in this country and you are entitled to an opinion. My sister trained as a nurse years ago and whilst she still works within the NHS, she no longer works on a ward. However, she has seen patient care at my local hospital as a result of the illness of family members, and she was disillusioned and shocked by what she saw and heard. I know she would agree with your comments on 'PR and image.' I would never encourage people to complain for complaining sake. Still, if the clinician listed in the post had been forced into the position where he was out of his depth, then there are serious management issues. What kind of a culture would it suggest if an individual does not feel able to challenge work practices he does not agree with and/or which may have been forced upon him? Wrongly, it sounds as if it's left to the patients and their families to forge change.

Point taken. However, the original post writer thought the psychologist was incompetent. Whether this was because he was newly qualified and inexperienced or incapable and poorly supervised is immaterial. Without complaining how can the situation be improved for the next person? My own experience (over many years) with the NHS leads me to believe that the majority of patients, their families or carers do not complain and consequently we have nurses and doctors with competenency issues. I'm guessing with your nickname of flyingdoc that you work within the healthcare system. I feel that there is a 'circle the wagons' culture within the NHS and that complaints via PALS are just a waste of time, but it's the first stage. When it comes to making the 'right' choice of improving quality of care for the patients or protecting themselves and their reputation, my local hospital goes for the latter. My guess is that it's not alone. How do we change this?

Even if you have no right to gain personal information on the employment records of these people, if you think they were incompetent you should write a letter of complaint in the first instant. If you are unhappy with the response, escalate your concerns to the Healthcare Commission. Just because a doctor/nurse/psychologist has a piece of paper saying that they are qualified does not mean they are capable. In this case it sounds as if there are issues with those responsible for recruitment and supervision. If you don't stand up and speak, the next person who is referred to this resource may suffer too. Yes, it's time consuming and sometimes stressful to have to take this action, but I think we all have to take responsibility if we are to improve our failing NHS.

Hi Thanks for your response. In the interim I have written again to the hospital and they are now figuring out a way of supplying the video images. These I will have reviewed by a specialist, independent of the the NHS if possible. You are right, the report of the procedure should have been written up, but it is incomplete and was, by admission, carried out by a consultant that was not trained to use the equipment.

I have recently requested my (deceased) mum's medical data from the hospital. I questioned many times the competency of the medical staff during her stay. I believe a capsule endoscopy was not carried out correctly because, as the doctor told me at the time, he was not trained to use the equipment. On the day of the procedure I visited in the evening and the belt that is worn during this process was absent, although the nursing notes that I now have say that the belt was removed during the time when I visited! I was so concerned at the time that I wrote to my mum's GP requesting a second test be done at another hospital. They failed to do this. The procedure notes (now in my possession) written by the nurses are incomplete, there are only three images in the data I have received for a process that takes upwards of 6 hours. I want to see all of the video footage that this procedure would have gathered. The response from the hospital is that 'the video images are not accessible.' Does anyone know my rights in the situation? Many thanks.

Jevan28 I'm very sorry to hear about the death of your dad. I can empathise, as my mum died a few months ago after 10 months in hospital. I encountered dreadful and sub-standard nursing care and arrogant, incompetent doctors. My mum was elderly and had been (wrongly) diagnosed with vascular dementia. I feel this diagnosis means no further worth of investigation. Just shortly before her death I, who had never accepted the dementia tag, concluded that she was toxic on an anti-convulsant drug. The result was positive and I was elated to think my mum would now recover. A week later she died. Without my request for a postmortem, even today the hospital would not know the cause of death - pelvic abcess, which according to the pathologist caused all of her other symptoms. The hospital were surprised by my request for postmortem. When I think of how my mum suffered I am so angry and I want those who 'failed' her to be punished. I cannot understand how social workers are held to account for failing in their duties to the children in their care and prosecuted by The Crown, whereas failures by medical staff have to be pursued by the individual or their family at great expense. If we had a system where a doctor could be sued directly, those that received too many successful claims against them wouldn't be able to get insurance...and could not longer practice. A sure way of getting rid of the rubbish and keeping them on their toes.