Nye Bevan What are they Doing to Our NHS?

Chair and Discussant

Phillip Stokoe

David Morgan
Audit Society and Corporate Care

The creeping business model in the NHS manifests in multiple ways, notably in the increasing use of corporate-style management techniques that prioritise efficiency, metrics, branding, and performative professionalism, over genuine care and clinical autonomy. My talk will explore the motivation behind this development and consider what we can do to reverse the decimation of Nye Bevan’s glorious dream. A dream that has shown the world that at its best a society can take care of the most vulnerable and sick. In this interregnum dominated by corporate greed, so ably illustrated by Elon Musks statement that “the biggest problem with the human race is empathy” the NHS stand as a beacon of humanity in an increasingly unfair world. The fact that Boris Johnson’s Brexit promise of £350,million pounds a week for the NHS which he scrawled on his battle bus, has never appeared or been apologised for!

Marcus Evans

I'm beyond caring. The failure of social systems to care for staff

Lord Francis was commissioned to look at why the serious problems (between January 2005 and March 2009) at Mid Staffs Foundation Trust were not identified sooner and the appropriate action taken. Lord Francis was also asked to outline what lessons could be learned to enhance patient care. The report was delivered on 5 February 2013 and contained 290 recommendations. The key message was that the National Health Service needed to put the patient first and everything else should flow from that principle. Poor standards of care should not be tolerated and staff would be expected to speak out when they felt patient care was being compromised. Lord Francis also recommended that there should be one regulatory body and that the role of the Care Quality Commission was to be reviewed.

Rachel Gibbons

The 'Impossibility' of Working in the Current NHS: Sacrifice to a Primitive God"

Rachel draws on her psychoanalytic and group relations understanding to explore her experience of 20 years of working inside the NHS in frontline services as a psychiatrist and clinical leader.

She asks whether we are missing something obvious that would help us understand the current crisis in the NHS. If so, why are we missing it?

Are powerful destructive unconscious primitive processes accepted in everyday life in the NHS? She shares various everyday compelling and challenging situations to illustrate how there is a conscious task which is at odds with the unconscious task that makes working in the NHS ‘Impossible’.

Biographies

Philip Stokoe is a Psychoanalyst (Fellow of the Institute of Psychoanalysis) in private practice working with adults and couples, and an Organisational Consultant, providing consultation to a wide range of organisations since he qualified in 1983 at the Tavistock Centre. He was Honorary Visiting Professor, Mental Health for 3 years at City University; where he is helping to set up a radically new way to train Mental Health Nurses based on psychoanalytic principles. He worked as a Consultant Social Worker in the Adult Department of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust between 1994 and 2012 where he was the Clinical Director of the Adult Department from 2007 to 2011. He has developed a reputation as a successful teacher and has taught and written about the application of psychoanalysis in a wide range of settings; Supervision, Leadership, Groups, Organisations, Ethics, Borderline Disorder, Adolescence, Residential Work, Working with victims of Sexual Abuse, Psychological Services in the NHS, Couple Relationships, and Politics. He has particular interest in human creativity as it relates to the development of the mind and the central role of curiosity and interest.

David Morgan

David Morgan worked as a consultant psychotherapist in the NHS for over 25 years, mainly at the Tavistock and Portman Clinic. He is a BPA training analyst and supervisor and a fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society. He is Chair of the Political Minds Seminars at the Institute of Psychoanalysis and has presented a podcast called Frontier Psychoanalyst on Resonance Radio. He has. written and edited several books and lectures internationally.

Dr Rachel Gibbons

Dr Gibbons is an experienced consultant in adult psychiatry. She is currently working independently and is the Chair of the Working Group on the Effect of Suicide and Homicide on Clinicians, and the Vice-Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Until February 2020 Dr Gibbons worked as the Head of Therapies for the Priory Group, providing leadership of all therapies across the Priory Healthcare divisioncovering around 100 hospitals and wellbeing centres.

Until September 2018 Dr Gibbons worked as a substantive consultant in the NHS. Her role
was as the sole consultant for the Complex Care Team at the Halliwick at St Ann’s Hospital.
This is a nationally leading innovative service for all the patients in Haringey who need
secondary care and do not have a psychotic illness.

Dr Gibbons was the Suicide Lead for Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust and the Chair of the Serious Incident Review Group. Previously. she worked for a highly regarded teaching hospital in North London where, in addition to her consultant role, she
was Co-Chair of the Trust’s Medical Advisory Committee. Dr Gibbons has also worked as ano Liaison Consultant Psychiatrist in the Royal Free Hospital Psychiatric Liaison team. Dr Gibbons’ clinical caseload includes all adult mental disorders. She has full registration with the General Medical Council and is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.Dr Gibbons has two CSTs (certificates of specialist training) and therefore has two entries on the GMC’s Specialist Register. The first is in adult psychiatry and the second in adult psychotherapy. Dr Gibbons has held consultant posts in both specialities. Dr Gibbons has trainings in a broad range of psychotherapies; she is on the British Psychoanalytic Council
(BPC) register. Dr Gibbons now spends most of her time leading work at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She has recently published several papers, on suicide, homicide and mourning. She has just won the one of the Presidents Prizes for 2024.

Dr Gibbons has extensive experience as an expert witness in the medico-legal field over the last 23 years and completes around 1000 reports per year on adults, children and adolescents. She reports on employment, personal injuries, sexual abuse, clinical
negligence and various other matters. Dr Gibbons has provided evidence in court and has completed well over 1000 joint reports with other experts.