Letters
Ombudsman is available when codes of practice fail
EDITOR,--Martin McKee and Tim Lang refer to the "increasing climate of centralisation of power and secrecy that is affecting every government department."1 Their references did not include the 1995 code of practice on openness in the NHS, the 1994 code of practice on access to government information, or the 1993 white paper Open Government (Cm 2290).As the parliamentary and health service ombudsman I eschew party political comment. I try to operate with fairness, especially when dealing with complaints where requests for information under the codes have been refused by government departments and agencies or by NHS bodies. I have already published four reports to parliament on the government code and will be making my first report on the NHS code in the summer. In the cases I have investigated wherever I have recommended that the information requested should be disclosed, it has been.
Health Service Commissioner (Ombudsman) Church House,
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BMJ 1996 312: 455-456.[Extract] [Full Text]
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