Further to my recent post about the Chief Executive’s refusal to provide answers to our 8 specific requests for information, making it impossible to contribute constructively to the consultation process, the constituency MP for TNA, Susan Kramer, has taken up our cause and written directly to the Chief Executive asking for answers to the 8 requests. We will see whether the intervention of a senior politician produces a different reponse from TNA management.

Given the stock-reply response received to requests from constituency MPs for information from the Minister, Michael Wills, it is clear that he was working from a brief provided by the Chief Executive based upon TNA’s incomplete data. We have contacted him to explain the actual situation, and repeat our call for answers to these 8 specific requests. In the meantime, we urge you to contact your MPs once again, with a copy of the open letter to the Chief Executive that contains the 8 requests for information, and suggest that they write directly to the Chief Executive (as Susan Kramer has done) to ask for the data to be made available. The Chief Executive’s answer is already online alongside the open letter, and I will post a full transcript of my email correspondence with the Chief Executive for reference, as it is clear that no attempt has been made to tackle any of the issues we have raised. I can also post a form of words that your MP can use when writing to the Chief Executive.

What has become clear during the recent correspondence is that Ministerial approval has already been given to these proposals. This means that TNA is under no obligation to take on board any of our suggestions; indeed, the staff restructuring exercise is clearly taking place.

This news may all sound quite gloomy, given the impending deadline for end of the consultation process. However, you have may seen the recent news that government ministers have apparently rejected a report preparerd by McKinsey & Company management consultants, which recommends reducing the NHS workforce by 137,000, cut millions of outpatient appointments and stop various operations as part of a package of measures to save up to £20 billion over the next few years. Staff losses, reduced access and withdrawal of services? These ‘proposals’ may seem familiar, and it is no co-incidence that the current Chief Executive at TNA used to work at McKinsey & Company, and has clearly brought their ‘one size fits all’ approach to making ’savings’ with her. Thankfully, it seems that ministers have realised that making savings by disabling the service in question is probably not the best way forward; and we can only hope the parallels to TNA’s intended fate will be recongised in time.