The Triumph of Forms Over Substance

Public Inquiries into failures in the caring services seem to lead inevitably to new layers of procedures and paperwork. The aim is to prevent whatever went wrong from going wrong again. The recent biggies were Shipman and the death of Victoria Climbie. In both cases it was people who went wrong and the system didn't work in such a way as to prevent them. As a result, there are now more restrictions, more forms and more procedures. However, in both cases, it seems to me that the signs were there and visible to people who should have recognised them for what they were: symptoms of something seriously awry. I am not sure that changing the procedure will open the eyes of those who failed to use their experience and professional competence in the first place.

My main worry is that over time, staff will change and the reasons for the procedure will be forgotten or not understood by their replacements. It will be just another lump of bureaucracy.

If you don't believe me, consider the chages that we had to implement following the Laming Inquiry (into the death of Victoria Climbie). We have to fax our local social services with the details of any child registered for treatment by any adult other than a parent or someone with official "parental authority".

I telephoned our local social services to ask what they did with the fax......

Nothing.

I am not surprised. Social workers have a caseload that would tip most of us over the edge in a week or two. Everyone knows this to be the case but still the procedures are established. Someone, somewhere can then tick the box that says they have done what was required by the report. It looks good on paper but really nothing has changed.