Editorial Sunday 10 February 2013: On one of the five high-mortality trusts

The identity of one of the five high-mortality trusts whose investigations were announced in the wake of Francis trusts didn't surprise me even slightly.

The reason is that a couple of years ago, I was invited to visit its chief executive and director of communications to discuss their media and communications strategy.

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The invitation came from a clinical leader, following a presentation I'd given on media and communications to a national leadership training group. It focused on the need for openness and accountability.

I found a polite, but very wary reception - and massive denial.

Yes, of course there'd been a bit of a problem ... very much exaggerated, though ... there had been some nursing shortages ... but it was nothing like as bad as (another of the names on the list) ... well in the past now.

There was an impenetrable complacency by this CE and director of communications. For them, this was about retrospectively validating their crisis communications, rather than using the avoidable harm and maybe even avoidable mortality to drive changes in the way they worked and communicated with their community.

I had and have no interest in that kind of work: it was simply a waste of my time.

As I drove away, I remember feeling pretty sure that (despite the good intention of the clinical leader in question) so uninterested were the hospital trust's leadership in learning from their problems, they would probably make similar mistakes in future.

As it seems they have done.