Testing for rotten apples and bad eggs
The government is introducing stringent new measures to prevent a repeat of Mid Staffs and similar scandals. In future senior NHS managers will be required to satisfy a fit and proper person test before being appointed.
Admitting that until now “almost anyone could run a hospital”, a government spokesman said: “Patients have a right to know that the people in charge of NHS services are up to the job.”
The move is the latest in a series of government initiatives in response to recommendations made in the Francis report, starting with the easy ones.
The new test is designed to screen out:
- Former members of the Hitler Youth League
- Anyone with a conviction for arms dealing, drug running or people trafficking
- Suicide bombers
- Ex presidents of Egypt
- Men with beards
The test has been designed by some of the country’s top HR consultants.
The government spokesman said: “Sophisticated psychometric techniques have been deployed to make it impossible for undesirables to slip through the net.”
Questions include:
- Have you ever killed anyone in a previous job?
- Are you happy for us to take up references from other fit and proper persons?
- Have you been press trained?
- Do you promise to do your best?
- Do you have a clean driving licence?
The friends and family test has also been specially adapted to weed out unsuitable candidates. Applicants for senior posts will be asked “How likely is it that you would recommend yourself a large pay-off if things don’t work out?”
Any candidate scoring a pension pot of less than £1m will be “highly unlikely” to make it through to the second stage of interviews.
Critics of the new measures pointed out that the test would not apply to NHS England, clinical commissioning groups or ministers of state, but the government insisted that other versions of the test would follow in due course.
A fit and proper commissioner test will check the credentials of anyone trying to close a hospital, a fit and proper patient test will be used to identify hypochondriacs and health tourists, and legislation for a fit and proper politician test will fail to make it past a first reading in the House of Commons.
Propriety editor: Julian Patterson
