Seeing through transparency

Let’s not forget this is not the only case involving attempts to cover up the loss of life of either a baby or a mother giving birth to a child because of not being treated correctly after the birth.

It is so easy to make a statement five years later and say things are different now. We are always told by the deputy involved or the States as a whole how much better things are now after a tragedy. They seem to forget we were told the same thing after the last tragedy or failure in whichever department is involved at the time.

We have had it rammed down our throats over and over how transparent our government is and yet after every incident like this, when they have made every attempt to cover things up, we are informed again that things are, and will be in the future, more transparent for us.

If the deputies and the States as a whole are totally transparent, how can they become even more so in the future? Surely if they are totally transparent, they cannot be even more so. That is absolutely impossible.

Why do our leaders show such unwillingness to accept reality? They are actually living in denial.

How can things be sorted by people not singing from the same song sheet anyway? One politician will say we need X amount of thousands of people more on the island and another writes in the paper that we are over-populated (something I have actually said for years). The need is to communicate with the people and listen to them. The majority will tell them Guernsey is in the worst mess it has ever been.

We are never going to recover from the need and greed that rules Guernsey today. Vets, doctors, housing, prescription drugs, vehicles, food, and many more things are at least three times more expensive on our island than England and other countries.

I hear some of you saying you do not agree and why don’t I go and live there then?

My answer is simple. I was born and bred here, but even after saying that I have to admit if I was a young man I would be leaving with the mainstream who are jumping ship. It is only because I am too old to up roots now that I remain here.

This does not make me any less concerned or passionate about the future of this once lovely island and how it is being ruined.

One only has to go through our once thriving Town to see which direction we are going. That in itself is another point probably worth bringing up. If cruise ship people spend so much on-island, how come so many shops are closing down in St Peter Port?

Be honest, it is food for thought.

ROD HAMON,

5, Rosemount,

Mont Arrive,

St Peter Port,

GY1 2AF.

Editor’s footnote: Deputy Heidi Soulsby, president of the Committee for Health & Social Care, replies:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reply to your reader’s letter.

My thoughts and the thoughts of the committee are first and foremost with the family at the centre of this case.

There will always be risks in health care and HSC does everything it can to minimise these risks. To put Guernsey into context, the stillbirth rate here is lower than England and Wales at 2.9 per thousand births compared with 4.4. The number of infant deaths is the same as England and Wales at 3.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Childbirth today is the safest it has ever been.

The time taken to conclude the inquest was too long and I have written to the president of Policy & Resources to see what can be done to help reduce such delays in future. However, we have been doing a great deal in this time.

To make sure we are doing all that we can, not only in maternity but across all services, last year HSC implemented a programme of work called ‘Safer Everyday’ which uses the methodology of the International Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the world’s leading safety improvement organisation. Part of the ethos of ‘Safer Everyday’ is to encourage and support staff to speak up and report concerns in a transparent way.

I personally wholeheartedly advocate a culture of transparency and accountability across the entirety of the States of Guernsey and will continue to do all that I can to ensure that this standard is upheld consistently.