Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
A patient’s story: a complaint and the aftermath

Victoria Martindale, a mistreated patient at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS documents the extraordinary lies and cover ups that the NHS is willing to undertake to prevent its dirty secrets being exposed.

She says "things fell apart ... as soon as I raised a complaint, I became a problem, no longer a patient. Managers at Derbyshire NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust, and in particular the CEO Steve Trenchard and the Director of Nursing, Carolyn Green, were prepared to go to any lengths to cover up. The tortuous route of my complaint involved both the criminal and the civil courts but, even then, DHCFT continued to cheat at every step of the way".

Her story demonstrates how ineffective the regulators, commissioners and other professional bodies are in fulfilling their duty of patient protection and safety and of ensuring accountability in the NHS. It shows how difficult it is for patients to be heard "when those in positions of powers take every measure possible to suppress it".

Surprisingly the dramatis personae in this nasty narrative include the CEO and the Director of Nursing at Derbyshire NHS, Steve Trenchard and Carolyn Green (who counterintuitively was also Director of Patient Experience), a vanishing psychotherapist, Brian Denness (and later in a criminal role, his committed friend and stalker, Alison Fuller ), Deborah Seed (NHS manager), Melanie Isherwood (a lawyer who doesn't necessarily behave like an officer of the court should), and Michael "Mike" Drayton, a business performance coach masquerading as a practicing clinical and forensic psychologist.

It is a good read, as breathtaking in its duplicity as it is horrible to believe. Consider taking out private health insurance if you live in Derbyshire. Read the account HERE.

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