As part of their 10-year plan for the NHS, the government have announced a Review of Patient Safety, which was initially triggered by the Review of the Care Quality Commission completed by Dr Dash in September 2024. In March 2025, Dr Penelope Dash became the new Chair of NHS England. According to a DHSC statement […]| phsothetruestory
A personal view by David Czarnetzki 10th July 2025 Since its release on 3rd July 2025, I have read through the 10-year plan in its entirety. The document consists of 143 pages, supplemented by 272 endnotes which annotate the references. Aspirations run high throughout the document, but I have concentrated on the area of most […]| phsothetruestory
Between 2014 and 2016, under the leadership of Katherine Murphy, the Patients Association published three damning reports exposing the poor performance of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombud…| phsothetruestory
The final cost of recruiting an Ombudsman at PHSO. By David Czarnetzki 24th June 2024 Readers of PHSO The True Story will recall my article of May 4th 2024 in which I identified £51,339 plus VAT ha…| phsothetruestory
As the staff at PHSO await their new Ombudsman, the staff survey reveals that treading water has had a negative impact on staff morale. A blog post by Nicholas Wheatley, PHSOtheFACTS. The PHSO Staf…| phsothetruestory
It has taken over a year for the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) to replace Rob Behrens, but on April 23rd, Paula Sussex passed the audition to become the new Omb…| phsothetruestory
Essential skills – Ability to: close the overwhelming majority of complaints after initial enquiries retain indifference when compensation recommendations are ignored by Government Mini…| phsothetruestory
In March 2015, the Patients Association published a damning report titled: PHSO – Labyrinth of Bureaucracy. A follow-up to their 2014 report ‘The Peoples’ Ombudsman – How it…| phsothetruestory
An investigative journalist follows up on PHSOthetruestory’s September 13th blog “NHS Individual Funding Requests – A postcode lottery” By David Czarnetzki Since writing the original blog in September highlighting discrepancies in approval rates for Individual Funding Requests granted by various Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England, I was delighted to meet a BBC West Midlands […]| phsothetruestory
Private Eye has been running a series of articles exposing the disingenuous way that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) handles complaints. The first was in issue 1641 on 24 Jan …| phsothetruestory
PHSO actions and investigative standards excluded from patient safety review I am grateful to Private Eye magazine for alerting the public to a review being conducted by Dr. Penny Dash, who is Chai…| phsothetruestory
The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) is responsible for holding government and civil servants to the highest standard. In December 2024 they held an inquiry into a…| phsothetruestory
When the new PACAC committee is finally formed they will have to get their skates on to recruit a new Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Rebecca Hilsenrath’s appointment as interim O…| phsothetruestory
By David Czarnetzki Once the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) published the written evidence submitted ahead of the annual scrutiny of the Ombudsman held on 14th N…| phsothetruestory
By David Czarnetzki – 2nd May 2024 Rob Behrens term of office as Ombudsman came to an end on 31st March this year, yet no permanent successor has been appointed. Instead, the Government decided tha…| phsothetruestory
