Stafford Hospital finds itself in a disgraceful position and it should send out the clearest of messages to those whose only focus is targets and efficiency savings.

Apparently, up to 1200 people died needlessly as a direct result of having the misfortune to need help from the health service in Stafford where patient care seems to have been a casualty of bureaucratic madness. The hospital management concentrated on achieving budget cuts and hitting targets and they took their collective eyes off the metaphorical ball and many hundreds died as a consequence.

If it is your job to look after the sick you should do just that in a clean, hygienic and disease free environment and targets and financial constraints should be put to one side thus allowing a clear and concise approach to patient care.

If it is your job to Police the streets of Scotland you should do so as part of a safe, fully staffed and properly equipped police service and not have to concern yourself about cash shortfalls and the like. Similarly, the Police should be able to go about their business without any thoughts of the week's pet target imposed by the management team, without concern about league tables, workplace surveys and the rest. 

But, as Stafford Hospital shows, when the management completely lose any grasp on what they are really meant to be doing the wheels fall off the bogey in spectacular, albeit tragic, style.

Current media reports suggest that, in the main, the leaders of the Police in Scotland have retained a firm grasp on what is required of a police service and the various views opined in recent weeks show a real concern for the future of policing in our country when massive budget cuts are forecast.  We are not in the business of scaremongering or causing panic but the politicians must realise that every penny deprived to the police is a sure fire way of creating statistics.

At a UK level the weekend saw the Conservative Party give the Labour Government a kicking over its record on Law ‘n' Order.  Increased violent offences, increased anti-social behaviour, and increased bureaucracy amounting to a broken criminal justice system said the Conservatives. This morning the Prime Minister leapt to his Government's defence. Crime down by a third since 1997, lowest risk of being a victim since 1981, more police than ever - and PCSOs too!

You can guarantee there will be more of this before the UK General Election in May (or whenever).  Claim and counter-claim.  Statistics contradicting statistics. The Police being used as a political football. With policing being a devolved issue, we can stand back a bit from this, but it still affects us. Scottish public opinion on policing is influenced by UK media police coverage.

But the bottom line is that 99.9% of Police officers will simply get on with the job of serving the public.  They will try not to be affected too much by number crunchers and sound-bite spouters. The public will have its say in May (or whenever), the new Government will make a few changes and I for one hope they include something which prevents a Stafford Hospital happening again.

Note: The views expressed in The Station Blog are written by neither a Federation representative nor an employee and are not necessarily those of the Joint Central Committee of the Scottish Police Federation.  If you want to comment on the content please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it