Fresh evidence of the extreme tensions that can arise between radiologists, hospital management, and the media has been provided by a very public dispute resulting from a controversial article in a U.K. national newspaper during the weekend.
A report published by the Sunday Telegraph on 3 July contains allegations about clinical services at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), a renowned pediatric center. The radiology department was singled out for particular criticism in the story.
In the article, Dr. Christine Hall, an emeritus professor and former consultant at GOSH, expressed concerns about hospital management, which, she is quoted as saying "has failed on all levels from the top down, fostered a divisive atmosphere and failed patients, who are not getting the treatment they need. ... It [GOSH] was a fantastic place, but its reputation has become tarnished."
According to the Sunday Telegraph, Hall believes the radiology department has "declined from a former center of excellence to a general level of mediocrity" with "devastating effects on the very patients we are meant to care about." Dr. Catherine Owens, a consultant radiologist at GOSH and president of the recent International Pediatric Radiology (IPR) Congress in London, is also quoted in the article, based on a letter she wrote on conditions at the hospital that was leaked to the press without her consent.
On Wednesday, 6 July, GOSH's joint medical directors, Dr. Barbara Buckley and Dr. Martin Elliott, issued a lengthy response to the article and alleged risks to patients in the radiology department, specifically related to musculoskeletal imaging.
"It is true that the [GOSH] Trust has been seeking second reviews on specific scans while we recruited a new consultant and continued to develop expertise in this superspecialist area. This is a good thing and exactly what putting something on the risk register allows us to do," they wrote. "What the article failed to point out was that, in benchmarking exercises within the last year, the radiology department has been one of the top-rated departments in London for teaching trainees, became the first and only accredited children's radiology department in the U.K., and in our most recent patient survey was rated as either good or very good by 97% of patients surveyed."
They stated that the GOSH press office, at the request of Owens, told the Sunday Telegraph that she did not want to be included in the article. They accused newspaper staff of ignoring her wishes and causing her great distress. They also point out that Hall retired in 2006, although with an honorary contract.
Buckley and Elliott did concede, however, "there is a minority of consultants who do not support some of the decisions we're making to improve patient care and we regret that they have chosen to go anonymously to the media rather than use the usual channels available in the Trust."
On the Telegraph website, there have been at least 12 comments about the article, including a robust defense of Owens herself.
"It is not fair to Dr. Owens to drag her name through the [news]papers. We should let them [medical doctors] get on with doing their job and not try to judge her through the [news]papers," one respondent commented.
During recent months, GOSH has come under scrutiny for its alleged failings in the case of Baby P, a 17-month-old boy who died in August 2007. For more information on the Baby P case, read background items from the Lancet here and here.
To view the original article from the Sunday Telegraph, click here. For the response of Buckley and Elliott, click here.
