With an election is coming up, the state of the NHS is one of the most important issues. But the electorate will not be allowed to hear anything against it from those who know best what is going on: the doctors and managers. They are under contract not to speak out of turn.

One instance of this was mentioned in the Daily Mail today. A confidential memo to senior managers at the Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale Primary Care Trust told them that they must not speak about the coming closure of some services. The maternity and minor injuries departments at Whitby Community Hospital, North Yorkshire, are scheduled to close as part of a cost-cutting exercise. The memo stated, "Nothing must hit the press this side of the election".

I have spoken to senior consultants who have been carpetted for saying something against the NHS. One consultant whom I quoted in the book did not want to be identified, saying "I am too young to lose my job". A BBC survey of managers showed that they felt they could tell their superiors about failings in the service. Meanwhile they are under pressure to manipulate the figures. There is a culture of fear and lies in the NHS. The Labour Party propaganda machine must not be contradicted.

This is a perversion of democracy. The Labour Party should be removed - if for nothing else - for the way it has turned doctors, as well as press officers and other civil servants, into fearful parts of its propaganda machine - whether they actually promote the propaganda or just stay silent when they know it is misleading.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS

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