This is fine
On Saturday 24 February, Jeremy Hunt graciously took to stage. He cleared his throat, delivered expected platitudes and accepted the award. The humanitarian award, at the World Patient Safety summit.
The event, which Hunt himself helped to organise, convenes annually. Its stated ambition is to achieve “ZERO preventable patient deaths by 2020” in hospitals.
Guests attending the conference were instructed to wear business attire and a single ticket cost as much as $10,000.
Bill Clinton gave a speech.
Previous humanitarian award winners include Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their work on America’s Affordable Care Act and Dr. Anne de-Wahl Granelli (PhD, MBA), who has spent the last decade researching the screening of newborn babies for critical congenital heart disease.
Congrats to @Jeremy_hunt, who today received the ‘Humanitarian Award’ from @joekiani at the World Patient Safety Summit for his global leadership on #patientsafety #nhs pic.twitter.com/kp0Xo4EfFT
— DHSC Media Centre (@DHSCmedia) February 24, 2018
Jeremy Hunt is a deserving candidate, then, when you consider his NHS track record.
That senior doctors say patients are “dying prematurely” in hospital corridors.
That the head of the British Red Cross, Mike Adamson, declared the NHS in a state of “humanitarian crisis” after two patients died waiting on trolleys at Worcestershire Royal hospital last year.
That over 33,000 nurses left the NHS in 2016-17, with almost a third of them between the ages of 25-34.
That A & E waiting times have hit record levels.
This is fine. With a CV like that, Mr Hunt is evidently deserving of his humanitarian award.
A summit spokesperson said the awards are “given to those who have done the most recently in the area of patient safety.”
“Since 2013, Jeremy Hunt has worked tirelessly to improve patient safety and develop a culture of openness and transparency in the National Health Service,” said Joe Kiani, Founder and Chairman of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation.
