Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital.
- Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital.
- Date:
- [1972]
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![43. One witness who much impressed us—he had taken a prominent part in the students’ complaints of 1967 but had also served as a member of the local branch executive of C.O.H.S.E. and on the staff side of the Joint Con- sultative Committee and was generally reputed one of the ablest students— told us, “ Sometimes a certain amount was allocated for a certain patient to be spent on cigarettes but the amount of cigarettes the patient got did not seem to match the amount of money .. . I discussed it privately with other students . . . and we had meetings about it to decide if the rest of us had got similar experiences... ”. Asked, “Had they?” he replied, “In the main, yes”. Similar comments were made by other staff and more specific evidence was given by a Charge Nurse who made detailed allegations about organised thefts of patients’ money and went on to say, “In the mess rooms ... it is common belief that anybody that does not co-operate in corruption does not succeed”. Another witness made accusations about mis- appropriation of hospital property by the former Chief Male Nurse but we considered his evidence unreliable. A further witness, who had made similar allegations, chose to withdraw them for reasons best known to himself when he gave evidence ; while another, who we believe may mav have been honestly mistaken in what she saw, accused the Chief Male Nurse of appro- priating property from the Nurses’ Home. There were allegations about other staff, ranging from serious to trivial. These extended to the former Group Secretary, Mr. Higgs, who was accused of regularly appropriating market garden produce, but it was clear from his evidence that he was simply removing vegetables grown on his own allotment. However, the most sweep- ing allegation was put forward by the present Group Secretary, who quoted the words to him of one of two very senior nurses, who were both convicted of stealing suits and both of whom gave evidence to us accusing each other of being the originator of the theft: ““ You know, Mr. Makinson, everyone at the hospital is in the racket [that is of patients’ money]. . . . Just everyone. You don’t need me to tell you who these people are. All you need to do is take a look around and see which of the staff change their cars every year, and which of the staff go abroad for holidays every year, and who take their wives out two or three times a week dining, and who have built bungalows recently. ...I am not saying any more: I have said too much already ; and if I am ever challenged on this I will deny that this conversation ever took place’. All the allegations were consistently and firmly denied by those concerned while other staff maintained they had no knowledge of irregularities of this kind. The Chief Male Nurse and his Deputy in particular insisted that they knew of no such incidents—apart from the few dealt with in the courts. 44. Our conclusion was that some of the allegations about individuals, which produced completely conflicting statements by different witnesses, were backed by insufficient evidence to be fully convincing and that others had adequate explanations of an innocent kind. This view is consistent with the result of the extensive audit and police investigations which led to only two prosecutions. On the other hand, our conclusion about the general allegations is that the collapse of the system of ward records, so clearly demonstrated in the audit reports, presented opportunities too tempting to resist and led to large-scale pilfering of patients’ money in the past. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the Hospital Management Committee were unable to offer an adequate explanation for the large discrepancy, shown by the 15](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32223444_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
