Tara Hewitt Head of 'Equality Diversion & Inclusion' at Northern Care Alliance advising NHS leaders to ignore EHRCs recent guidance.

[happydappy2]

Tara Hewitt who holds a senior position within the NHS, is advising CEOs, Chief medical officers and others within the NHS to blatantly ignore new guidance from EHRC regarding single sex provision of services. Claiming it is transphobic. This will not end well...the NHS is there to serve all of us, not just males and their identities. The fact they feel emboldened to do this publicly on twitter is shocking.

I agree, Mrs Overton.

On a smaller level, removing the E&D budget from one trust would allow the money to be redirected to the patient catering budget for example.

Typically the catering budget is £2.20 per day from what I’ve seen. Trusts busy trying to cut corners, finding it impossible and making small changes like removing jam from the ward order. It’s only a little thing, jam, but I remember a lovely midwife giving me jam on toast after a long difficult Labour. Best jam I’ve ever tasted.

It’s not about the jam, obviously. But this is his the nhs is choosing to spend money. We’ve had countless problems in the nhs trust where I work because it’s too expensive to send letters. We are now saving money by sending texts instead, but people aren’t receiving them (for various reasons). And that compromises care.

I have worked for the nhs all my career. My mother was the same. Sadly I do believe it has to be dismantled because nobody has the balls to screw it up and start again.

I have worked for the NHS and been at the mercy of the NHS both as a patent and in a professional capacity.

There are so many brilliant people in the NHS but it needs reviewing and structural change from top to bottom.

The banding system is incredibly rigid and it creates inefficiencies because somr staff are fixed to only working within their band leading to inefficient processes.

NHS management are not really accountable to anyone. Hence these equality roles.

The agenda for changes terns are rigid and do not facilitate good organisational change.

So much money is wasted on poor HR/management processes. I have known for staff to be paid on full pay on sick leave for a year, with no formal absence management processes being followed. Essentially left sitting at home being paid in full.

At the same time, there is not enough money for stationary, equipment is broken or obsolete.

No political party has the guts to reform it and the Conservatives are waiting for it to break, for its reputation to be trashed, before it is privatised.

The leaders of the NHS don't help themselves by spending their time on twitter rather than focusing on patient care.

Add in the cost of all that staff time for compulsory EDI or trans health training, and the costs of the trainers, and of putting together material for the Stonewall accreditation. (How many does the NHS have.) As well as the Twitter stuff, the rainbow lanyards, and so on.

Equality is a good thing. But the focus needs to be equal as well. The elderly, the disabled, ethnic minorities deserve some focus as well. The trend is to believe that you can only understand the needs of a group if you are a member of that group, hence Tara. A good manager should be able to have broader empathy and understanding.

I worked in the nhs for decades. We were always warned to keep our personal and political opinions to ourselves. We were not allowed to wear any sort of jewellery apart from a plain wedding ring. Any sort of political or religious symbol would have been regarded as inappropriate.
Al this self absorbed posturing is deeply unprofessional, particularly rainbow lanyards etc.
There has always been a lot of waste of money/ resources in the NHS, but political extremism from within is making it much worse.

There are so many brilliant people in the NHS but it needs reviewing and structural change from top to bottom.

I agree, Lola. The bureaucracy alone is enough to sink it, imo. It's farcical. Way beyond Joseph Heller territory by now. All public services/institutions suffer from this, I know, but the NHS seems to have become increasingly and utterly obsessed with the fear of being sued.

The UK isn't even that litigous as a society, but I think the NHS risks creating a self fulfilling prophecy with the amount of strenuous arse covering it does actually ends up interfering and damaging care. It's quite scary to watch it creak under the weight of itself. And what is/can be a really astonishing institution risk collapse is worrying and sad.

I currently work in the NHS. My role is quite new, it was funded by the CCG to streamline a very lengthy clinical process.

I started six months ago. It’s VERY easy to spot how to make efficiencies, but I’m prevented from making them.

Several reasons, but mainly around two themes, admin and clinical hierarchy. All of the issues seem to stem from people.

So for example, it took me a little while to work out what everyone in the admin team does. Basically they seem to pass things between themselves. They complain a lot about workload, so I tried to simplify their workload by suggesting various changes, however all changes were resisted and in fact I was threatened that ‘the unions’ would become involved because they perceive that any change means a change for the worse, or that they might be made redundant.

Caveat - our trust has a ‘no redundancy’ policy.

Some highly paid clinical staff are carrying out tests that they have not been trained adequately for. They are making errors. Other staff who have been trained to do the work are unable to do it, because patients perceive that it’s better to see the higher ranking clinician. This is absolutely not true at all.

So the situation continues. The waiting times are long and I cannot improve this, despite being commissioned and paid to do so.

I was not asked to feedback or review the role, but I made an appointment to see the lead commissioner. He was not interested in anything I had to say, because CCGs are undergoing changes and he may not be in the same job six months from now. When I spoke to my manager, she announced she was leaving. We have an interim manager now who has been given a vast array of services to manage, and who has realised that she doesn’t want the ‘permanent’ role due to pressures from above her. The people above her are not clinicians, they are ‘professional’ managers.

Nobody wants that management job.

Ultimately, there are many ‘highly paid’ roles in the NHS that attract people without the right skill. This includes at CCG level. These people are attracted to nhs manage to roles because they aren’t actually qualified or skilled or talented in anything, so they never stand a chance of a properly ‘highly paid’ management role.

None of them stay in post. They take on new roles, look interested and keen, do very little and move on. The add nothing at all to patient care, they frustrate clinicians, they sit in individual air conditioned offices whilst clinical staff are squeezed together in ‘hot desk’ rooms where they cannot hold a confidential conversations and are forced to make calls in stairwells or cupboards.

It is utterly shocking, and it ought to be exposed. I would not know where to begin.

CrikeyItsACroc that sounds horrendous. And we are all paying for this wastage.
Would you consider a journal type blog?

Or make an appointment to see your local MP? Especially if your CQG has not been interested in your feedback. Perhaps your MP can raise it with the health secretary (eventually....I know none of this would happen overnight).

It is utterly shocking, and it ought to be exposed. I would not know where to begin.

I know, it's such a huge subject, so woven into so many aspects of the fabric of our society - where do you start? Where would it end?

It’s hard to know where to begin. A journal blog would make interesting reading but of course these people are always exposed in the end and I’m not really sure of the ramifications for me personally (I’m a clinician, registered to practice with a particular governing body that could potentially investigate me for fitness to practice).

I would love to write something but I’d have to wait until I was nearing the end of my career, or willing to switch to different work. It is always easier in the end to resign, and I know that’s what a lot of really good, caring, competent and efficient people choose to do.

My manager who left was in that category.

There is such little real accountability. You can ‘whistle blow’ but even that is fraught with difficulty. I considered this in a previous job, but did some digging beforehand and uncovered that the ‘impartial freedom to speak up’ guardian was in fact a long-standing employee of 30 odd years, who knew everyone in the trust back in the day when they all trained together. He was Facebook friends with many, many staff and it was simply impossible to know whether your concerns would be taken seriously or in fact whether he would quietly identify you to the person you were concerned about.

I could not understand at the time how this situation was allowed to occur - how a person with his background was considered impartial enough to act as the gatekeeper for any serious professional concerns. I don’t know who made the decision, but it was somebody in ‘professional management’ and I imagine the pool of volunteers for the role was quite small, despite the fact that it attracted several sessions a week away from clinical work (leading to less time for patient care).

Ultimately, having witnessed colleagues bullied for raising concerns, I raised mine locally with my own manager rather than going down a formal route. She did nothing about them, though acknowledged that the person of concern was a huge problem and had been suspended on several occasions prior. The problem was, this person kept other problems at bay. In other words, she managed a service that nobody wanted to manage, so they couldn’t risk getting rid of her.

Ironically, the reason nobody wanted to manage it was because it was such a mess, overly complicated, poorly regulated, with high staff ‘burnout’ rates. She was the reason for all of that. So it was all rather circular.

I left in the end, as the concerns I tried to raise directly impacted patient care, and I did t want to be part of it

TH and RW are trans identifying men who like to tell women about what rights theses men think we may or not be allowed. Like it's in these men's gift FFS. They are tossers, literally. The only use they have is to get us mad and get us active. Can I suggest though that we don't give then the courtesy of any acknowledgement. This is what they want and what they get off on. They need the oxygen that being acknowledged and vilified gives them. Just ignore them. I think it's better to point out, elsewhere, the serious and dangerous idiocy of uneducated, unqualified and unfit TH occupying a role where he can impact women's safety. On Twitter he laughingly invited NHS staff to contact him, as a self appointed 'credible equality professional' for advice. TH is not qualified, not professional and not credible. His 'advice' could lead to a repeat of the rape by a trans identifying man, that the NHS denied. There have been several posts suggesting contacting the Minister of Health et al. I agree and dare I add that I think it would be a more worthwhile use of MNers' time. This crazy lunacy should be brought to the attention of anyone in any who can help to shut it down.

Crikey- I can believe it. I think there is so much wastage in the NHS and very little accountability amongst non clinical staff.

I have written to my mp and Dept of Health plus Aaron Cummin. Thank you to those who helped by posting here.

I’m surprised by Tara’s LinkedIn profile.

It says she’s worked in NHS forensic services. Low, medium, high secure.

That sounds complex doesn’t it?

She used to work for a mental health trust. That trust did not have ANY medium or high secure beds, only low.

She did not work on those low secure wards. She sometimes visited patients there, but she was NOT employed there. She has literally no knowledge of forensics.

I suspect she doesn’t realise they had no high/medium secure wards because her understanding of forensics was VERY poor.

And yet she’s put it on her LinkedIn profile. It looks impressive doesn’t it?

More manipulation/smoke/mirrors

B

Morecombe Bay had someone saying they would ignore the guidelines I think? That trust is covered here:

Almost half of NHS maternity services in England are unsafe

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/9dc26524-b900-11ec-94e5-2197dead5942?shareToken=cf002f0884fb4e2f0855e036d49426af

@CrikeyItsACroc

I currently work in the NHS. My role is quite new, it was funded by the CCG to streamline a very lengthy clinical process.

I started six months ago. It’s VERY easy to spot how to make efficiencies, but I’m prevented from making them.

Several reasons, but mainly around two themes, admin and clinical hierarchy. All of the issues seem to stem from people.

So for example, it took me a little while to work out what everyone in the admin team does. Basically they seem to pass things between themselves. They complain a lot about workload, so I tried to simplify their workload by suggesting various changes, however all changes were resisted and in fact I was threatened that ‘the unions’ would become involved because they perceive that any change means a change for the worse, or that they might be made redundant.

Caveat - our trust has a ‘no redundancy’ policy.

Some highly paid clinical staff are carrying out tests that they have not been trained adequately for. They are making errors. Other staff who have been trained to do the work are unable to do it, because patients perceive that it’s better to see the higher ranking clinician. This is absolutely not true at all.

So the situation continues. The waiting times are long and I cannot improve this, despite being commissioned and paid to do so.

I was not asked to feedback or review the role, but I made an appointment to see the lead commissioner. He was not interested in anything I had to say, because CCGs are undergoing changes and he may not be in the same job six months from now. When I spoke to my manager, she announced she was leaving. We have an interim manager now who has been given a vast array of services to manage, and who has realised that she doesn’t want the ‘permanent’ role due to pressures from above her. The people above her are not clinicians, they are ‘professional’ managers.

Nobody wants that management job.

Ultimately, there are many ‘highly paid’ roles in the NHS that attract people without the right skill. This includes at CCG level. These people are attracted to nhs manage to roles because they aren’t actually qualified or skilled or talented in anything, so they never stand a chance of a properly ‘highly paid’ management role.

None of them stay in post. They take on new roles, look interested and keen, do very little and move on. The add nothing at all to patient care, they frustrate clinicians, they sit in individual air conditioned offices whilst clinical staff are squeezed together in ‘hot desk’ rooms where they cannot hold a confidential conversations and are forced to make calls in stairwells or cupboards.

It is utterly shocking, and it ought to be exposed. I would not know where to begin.

Crikey. I’m appalled but not surprised. At its best the NHS does brilliant work but at its worse … well that sounds typical of worst practice. It’s sounds like a a completely locked in self perpetuating culture. Might be worth speaking to your MP especially if they are a Tory MP? I can absolutely sympathise with not knowing where to start with that - the NHS is such a monolith, how can it be turned around?

Yes Morecambe's Aaron Cummins is one of the supporters mentioned. Have had email expressing my concern acknowledged by PALS and MP.

Heard back from my MP regarding Aaron Cummins' support of TH and apparently AC did not support her but his words 'on it' were taken from another post about another matter. Interesting. PALS are referring my complaint to the trust's communication/press department for their comment. Anyone else any more info?

Thank for update. Interestingly there was a report in the Herald(Scotland) today which states " Health chiefs yesterday confirmed they were examining the EHRC guidance and its implications for female-only wards.

Thank you. Is that good or bad?!

Could only be good I think, as at present the guidance is to let any male who says they are female into women only wards. Also policy tells staff to lie to women who complain and, if they continue, to warn them that it will be recorded as a hate incident. So can only get better or at least I hope so.

@CrikeyItsACroc

I currently work in the NHS. My role is quite new, it was funded by the CCG to streamline a very lengthy clinical process.

I started six months ago. It’s VERY easy to spot how to make efficiencies, but I’m prevented from making them.

Several reasons, but mainly around two themes, admin and clinical hierarchy. All of the issues seem to stem from people.

So for example, it took me a little while to work out what everyone in the admin team does. Basically they seem to pass things between themselves. They complain a lot about workload, so I tried to simplify their workload by suggesting various changes, however all changes were resisted and in fact I was threatened that ‘the unions’ would become involved because they perceive that any change means a change for the worse, or that they might be made redundant.

Caveat - our trust has a ‘no redundancy’ policy.

Some highly paid clinical staff are carrying out tests that they have not been trained adequately for. They are making errors. Other staff who have been trained to do the work are unable to do it, because patients perceive that it’s better to see the higher ranking clinician. This is absolutely not true at all.

So the situation continues. The waiting times are long and I cannot improve this, despite being commissioned and paid to do so.

I was not asked to feedback or review the role, but I made an appointment to see the lead commissioner. He was not interested in anything I had to say, because CCGs are undergoing changes and he may not be in the same job six months from now. When I spoke to my manager, she announced she was leaving. We have an interim manager now who has been given a vast array of services to manage, and who has realised that she doesn’t want the ‘permanent’ role due to pressures from above her. The people above her are not clinicians, they are ‘professional’ managers.

Nobody wants that management job.

Ultimately, there are many ‘highly paid’ roles in the NHS that attract people without the right skill. This includes at CCG level. These people are attracted to nhs manage to roles because they aren’t actually qualified or skilled or talented in anything, so they never stand a chance of a properly ‘highly paid’ management role.

None of them stay in post. They take on new roles, look interested and keen, do very little and move on. The add nothing at all to patient care, they frustrate clinicians, they sit in individual air conditioned offices whilst clinical staff are squeezed together in ‘hot desk’ rooms where they cannot hold a confidential conversations and are forced to make calls in stairwells or cupboards.

It is utterly shocking, and it ought to be exposed. I would not know where to begin.

Just spotted this. It is so familiar. I worked for a while as a lowly administration temp in the NHS over 20 years ago. I was kept very busy as you say passing information between other admins who probably just filed it.

I also remember the impossibility of getting rid of incompetent staff who instead where landed on different teams with each reorganisation. And everyone over 50 had to be offered early retirement not redundancy which made them too expensive to be got rid of so I role would have to be found for them. It was also full of textbook examples of the Peter's principle.

[quote Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky]This Tara Hewitt? They’ve got sone interesting views,,,,

www.gendergp.com/tara-hewitt-transgender-diversity-inclusion/

www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/04/29/trans-tory-candidate-opposes-lesbians-using-sperm-banks/[/quote]
A quote from the Pink nest article
"Polyamorous loves having a child is selfish and part of societies [sic] obsession with doing something because we can regardless of if we should.”

Talk about a lack of self awareness or understanding the meaning of irony.....