Baby P doctor 'warned Great Ormond Street of risk a year before his death

Baby P doctor 'warned Great Ormond Street of risk a year before his death'

By Colin Fernandez
Last updated at 6:31 PM on 06th December 2009

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Warning a year before his death: Dr Kim Holt said her fears for Baby P were reported

Warning a year before his death: Dr Kim Holt said her fears for Baby P were reported

A world-famous children's hospital came under severe criticism today for failling to prevent the death of Baby P after a doctor revealed she had warned of the risk of a tragedy a year before the child's death.

Great Ormond Street Hospital, which ran the clinic where a doctor failed to spot Baby P's broken back, has offered the doctor £120,000 to remain silent about her complaints - but she has refused to be gagged.

Dr Kim Holt, 50, said she believed that had the warnings been heeded it could have prevented the child's death at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and his brother.

This week a report to be published into her case is expected to say her complaints and those of colleagues 'were well founded'.

Dr Holt, was removed from her post after she and three other senior doctors wrote a joint letter to management in April 2006 warning of a tragedy at a clinic run by the hospital due to numerous failings including staff shortages and poor record-keeping.

When Baby P was taken to the clinic - St Ann's Hospital, Tottenham - a year later he was seen by a locum - Dr Sabah al-Zayyat who failed to spot his back was broken - due to a shortage of experienced consultants.

Two days later, the 17-month-old was found dead in his cot with broken ribs, cuts to his head, a missing finger tip, broken teeth, and scores of bruises.

Dr Holt today revealed how senior management failed to act on her fears for child safety.

'They were in a panic [after Baby P], ' she said, 'They said I had to withdraw my allegation or the money was off the table. They wanted me to sign a statement saying all my concerns had been addressed. I refused because it would have been a lie. They were trying to buy my silence,' she told the Sunday Telegraph.

Great Ormond Street provided the doctors at the clinic and was 'lead agency' for child abuse, running the clinic with Haringey Primary Care Trust.

Dr Holt a doctor of 25 years’ experience with three medical degrees, said she been prevented from returning to the clinic as she has refused to sign the agreement.
She said: 'I am not going to be gagged. I must speak about this because it is so wrong.

'I believe that if our concerns had been taken seriously at the time we raised them, then we could have prevented the death of Baby Peter. Several of the failings found by the inquiries into his death were 100 per cent the same as the failings we complained about the year before he died.

'Sharon Shoesmith, the director of the social services side in Haringey, lost her job. But there was a total failure of leadership on the health side as well.'

The joint letter warned of a 'very high risk' of tragedy without more staff and highlighted a catalogue of failures at the hospital.

The letter was addressed to David Elliman, the Great Ormond Street manager responsible for the clinic, and Jane Elias, who then worked for Haringey Primary Care Trust, but is now employed by Great Ormond Street hospital.

The number of consultant posts had been reduced from four to three after the 2006 complaints, but it has since increased to nine posts.

Dr Holt said: 'That letter is extremely strong. It was very unusual for four consultants to write like that. We only did it because we were at our wits’ end. We had a professional and moral obligation to raise our concerns. The children had no one else to speak up for them except us and we felt passionately that we were letting them down.

'The response of management was hostile and bullying. One manager threatened me with the sack.'
Bid for silence: Dr Marsh said she was offered £120,000 to stay quiet about the matter, but refused

Bid for silence: Dr Marsh said she was offered £120,000 to stay quiet about the matter, but refused

Dr Holt added: 'The Great Ormond Street managers were obsessed with Government targets. We were just supposed to process the children and not care about their lives. The world knows Great Ormond Street as this beacon of the care of children. But the case of Haringey shows its reputation is misplaced.

'There is something which is not right at the heart of this hospital. There are many wonderful doctors there, but the ethos has been undermined by a core of people who are failing in their duty.'

Dr Holt remains on 'special leave' on full pay. Two other consultants, Dr Haitham el Basheer and Dr Sethu Wariyar, resigned. The fourth, Dr Sukanta Banerjee, went off sick, but has since returned.

A report commissioned by NHS London the strategic health authority, into Dr Holt’s case, finds the consultants’ concerns were 'genuine and well-founded'.

The NHS London report says the concerns were 'taken seriously' but there was 'no evidence' that the main worry, consultants’ workload, was 'adequately addressed'.
One doctor, Michelle Zalkin, told their investigators that Great Ormond Street and Haringey managers created a 'very hostile environment' which became 'quite unbearable'. They communicated, she claimed, largely by 'shouty emails and Post-it notes'.

The report says Dr Elliman claimed the problems did not affect patient safety. 'We would not agree,' the investigators say.

They describe Dr Holt as 'highly committed' and say: 'We do not consider Dr Holt has been directly targeted, but we do consider that she is entitled to feel aggrieved.'

Great Ormond Street Hospital denied today it had tried to 'gag' Dr Holt and said the hospital will learn from the 'measured criticisms' in the report.

It said: 'Broadly the Trust feels this report supports its view of events. The issue of workload of course is largely a matter of funding, over which we have little control.

'A public debate on claims and counterclaims is not going to help reach a solution but it goes without saying we do not accept much of her interpretation of events, and we note an independent investigation largely fails to agree with her.'

Dr al-Zayyat is under investigation by the General Medical council.

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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1233671/Baby-P-doctor-warned-Great-Ormond-Street-risk-year-death.html#ixzz0YwflQWGH

He would off been only seven months old when he was first seen.


Poor little darling was abused from the day he was born.


Im glad SOMEONE has principles.