Category: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ; West TV
Date: 09.03.2006
Printable version
The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ today successfully defended a libel action brought by a senior manager in the National Health Service who was accused of manipulating hospital waiting lists.
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The case had been brought under the controversial conditional fee arrangements (CFA) which allow claimants to bring cases on what is popularly called "no win no fee basis" and where a successful claimant can recover up to double the usual legal costs.
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Giving his judgement in the High Court, Mr Justice Gray said: "The importance of this case lies in the fact that it is concerned with institutional corruption within a public body which has gone unpunished."
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The case arose from a broadcast on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Points West in Bristol during which a former employee of the Weston General Hospital accused Mrs Marion Henry of being involved in the manipulation of hospital waiting lists in order to meet NHS targets.
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Mrs Henry denied the claim and sued the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ for libel.
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The report on Points West was compiled by the award-winning Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Health Correspondent, Matthew Hill.
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Mark Byford, the Deputy Director-General of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, said: "This was an important case for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ to defend. Matthew Hill pursued the story with integrity, vigour and outstanding professionalism.
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"It is important that media organisations have the courage to report serious allegations made by credible whistleblowers.
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"This is particularly true in those cases brought under conditional fee arrangements where the legal costs involved can be prohibitive.
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"It is very important that the CFA regime is not allowed to have a dampening effect on journalism of this kind."
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ was represented by Andrew Caldecott QC, Catrin Evans
and Joanne Neenan instructed by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Litigation Department and Mrs Henry was represented by Richard Rampton QC and Jacob Dean instructed by Carter-Ruck.
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Briefing for journalists -
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ successfully defends High Court libel action
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Points West has successfully defended a substantial High Court libel action brought by a senior manager at Weston General Hospital (WGH), Marion Henry.
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In the opening paragraph of his judgment, Mr Justice Gray said that: "The importance of the case lies in the fact that it is concerned with institutional corruption within a public body which has gone unpunished." [para. 1, lines 6-8]
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A copy of the judgment is available to journalists on request.
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Background
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Marion Henry's libel action concerned falsification of patient waiting lists at WGH between 1999 and 2002 and whether or not she knew about it.
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In September 2004, Marion Henry brought a libel action arising out of a news item on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Points West broadcast on 12 May 2004 on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE (West).
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ West's Health Correspondent, Matthew Hill, covered the release that day of the published summary (the full report was not made publicly available) of the Taylor Inquiry which found that falsification of patient waiting lists had occurred at Weston General Hospital from 1999 to 2002.
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The Taylor Inquiry followed allegations made in October 2002 by WGH's former Waiting Times Co-ordinator, Michele Masson, that waiting lists were systematically mismanaged and manipulated on the instructions of senior management to meet Government targets.
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Failure to achieve those targets had the potential, in particular, to adversely affect WGH's "star rating".
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The summary of the Taylor Report concluded that Michele Masson's main allegations had been substantiated and that she had received direct instructions from her "senior managers" but that "direct proof" had not been found to identify who the relevant managers were.
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Mr Justice Gray acknowledged that the Taylor Inquiry had in part been triggered by an earlier investigation by Matthew Hill.
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Points West interviewed Michele Masson on 12 May 2004 as part of the coverage and also carried an excerpt from a press conference given by her in which she accused WGH of a cover up and named Marion Henry (at the time the "Facilities and Administration Manager"), Meredith Collins (the then Finance Director and Deputy Chief Executive) and Linda Marvin (the then "Patient Services Manager") as having been complicit in the falsification of patient waiting lists.
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Marion Henry's libel claim
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Mrs Henry, whose management responsibilities included the departments that ran the waiting lists at WGH, brought a libel action against the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ.
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She claimed that, contrary to what had been said in the May 2004 broadcast, she was not aware of or complicit in the falsification of waiting list data (which she accepted had occurred).
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She denied that she was party to a cover up of her and other managers' involvement and maintained that, to the contrary, she had in fact been "banging on doors" throughout to make sure a thorough investigation was conducted into Michele Masson's allegations about waiting list manipulation at Weston General Hospital.
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's defences
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In January and February of this year, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's defence of justification was heard.
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The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's case was that Mrs Henry did in fact know about and was involved in improper manipulation of patient waiting lists and that she took a number of steps to cover her up her own and other senior managers' involvement in it.
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At an earlier hearing in November 2005 the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's defence of Qualified Privilege had failed.
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During the course of the case the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ obtained numerous Court orders for disclosure of documents to support its defence, mainly from WGH but also from the Avon, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire SHA and from WGH's PR advisors.
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These orders unearthed a number of critical documents linking Marion Henry to the manipulation.
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As part of this the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ retained Lee & Allen, forensic IT experts, who were able to extract crucial email data from computer back up tapes held at the WGH from 1999.
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Michele Masson was the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's main witness.
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Mr Justice Gray's judgement
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Today Mr Justice Gray handed down his judgment, upholding the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's defence of justification and finding that the allegations made in the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Points West broadcast about Marion Henry were substantially true.
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In summary, the Judge found that Marion Henry was aware of waiting list manipulation and permitted the manipulation to take place.
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He also found that Marion Henry was involved in a cover up of her and other manager's involvement in the manipulation.
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Examples of some of his key findings are:
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Based on the relatively few documents that were still available, a number of which were either sent to or copied to Marion Henry, he said:
"I have reached the clear conclusion that the documents which I have listed would have alerted their readers to the fact that targets were being met by WGH because patient data was being systematically manipulated." [para. 101, lines 1-4]
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Of Marion Henry he said that:
"The evidence suggests that, despite the wide range of her responsibilities, Mrs Henry was able to keep a close eye on the detail of what went on in her departments." [para. 111, lines 6-9]
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"My assessment of the oral evidence and the overall likelihood is that Mrs Henry was aware of and on occasion complicit in the manipulation of data which senior members of the Board had instructed should take place." [para. 116, lines 14-17]
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On the "cover up" aspect of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's case the Judge said: "I believe that Mrs Henry hoped that, with the assistance of [the then Deputy Chief Executive and Finance Director], she would be able to conceal what had happened." [para. 125, lines 5-7]
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"In my judgement the evidence demonstrates that Mrs Henry's primary concern over this period was to resolve the question of Mrs Masson's continued employment by the Trust without any disclosure by her of waiting list malpractice." [para. 127, lines 1-4]
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As regards Michele Masson, Mr Justice Gray said that to describe WGH's treatment of Michele Masson as "...atrocious..." was "...an understatement..." and that she had "...paid an exceedingly high price for what she did." [para. 110, lines 19-21]
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Comment
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Mark Byford, the Deputy Director-General of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, welcomed today's judgement.
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He said: "This was an important case for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ to defend. Matthew Hill pursued the story with integrity, vigour and outstanding professionalism.
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"It is important that media organisations have the courage to report serious allegations made by credible whistleblowers.
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"This is particularly true in those cases brought under the conditional fee arrangement where the legal costs involved can be prohibitive.
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"It is very important that the CFA regime is not allowed to have a dampening effect on journalism of this kind. In this case if the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ had lost the overall legal costs would have been well over Β£1.5m."
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Andrew Wilson, Head of Regional and Local Programmes for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ West, said:
"I'm proud that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is prepared to back its journalists and its journalism when we believe we are right.
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"It is important, in order to maintain strong and independent journalism, that actions like this are contested in court if necessary."
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Andrew Wilson paid tribute today to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ West Health Correspondent, Matthew Hill.
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He said: "It was Matthew's tenacity and skill that uncovered this story in the first place and his journalism that stood up so well under rigorous cross-examination.
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"I never under-estimated the personal pressure that Matthew's been subjected to over the past 18 months.
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"He's handled himself with typical determination and integrity throughout the whole process.
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"This is a day for taking pride in the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's journalists, who see it as their duty to investigate and uncover institutional wrongdoing on behalf of licence payers. That is one of the things the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is expected and trusted to do."
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Michele Masson said: "A great result for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, me, the NHS and the people of Weston. Finally the truth has prevailed.
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"I hope that the Health Authorities will now take appropriate action against those managers involved in the manipulation of waiting lists at Weston General Hospital which the Trust has failed to do in the past."
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