I Can Answer That One For You, Ramon…

However, one question remains: who will be held accountable for what went wrong?

No-one.

The employment tribunal was inexorably drawn to the conclusion that I had been suspended from my position at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a direct result of the concerns I raised in letters to the trust's management. Further, it was confirmed by the chief executive of the trust that my exclusion was not based on any clinical grounds regarding my practice, yet my suspension was maintained for a period of 10 weeks. This shows a complete disregard for the job in hand – to deliver care and services to patients.

You assume, Ramon, that that’s the job of all those people that, like you, work in the NHS.

But it clearly isn’t.

Some are employed to do what they did to you, and anyone else stupid enough to think that care of patients is the main function of the NHS…

So, what now? What measures will be put in place to ensure that another person within the NHS can raise legitimate and well-founded concerns about the impact that cost-cutting is having on the level of care that is provided by an NHS trust, and will not be silenced by the stigma of being perceived as a troublemaker?

None.

Beginning to get the message now?

There exists little in the way of a regulatory mechanism, punitive measures or indeed any general oversight to ensure we do not see any more highly skilled medical professionals removed from the NHS because they took their duty of care to patients seriously.

Yup. And if you think that isn’t by design, well, I’ve a bridge to sell you…

What mechanism will deter any trust from pursuing this course of action again, without being held accountable or being severely punished for doing so?

None, of course. And that’s why they should be ‘held accountable’ and ‘severely punished’.

But they won’t be.