Editorial Tuesday 19 March 2013: The ComradeShambles continues - Gary Walker letter proves Sir David Nicholson misled the PAC

Health Service Journal has published a copy of former United Lincoln Hospitals Trust CE Gary Walker's 2009 letter to Comrade-In-Chief David Nicholson.

The concluding two paragraphs of the letter prove that Nicholson misled the Public Accounts Committee yesterday during his evidence.

HSJ reports that yesterday, Sir David told the PAC, “When [Gary Walker] wrote to me setting out his concerns. He didn’t identify himself as a whistleblower. Nevertheless I immediately responded by commissioning an independent inquiry into the circumstances around [this], which produced a report, the executive summary of which was published at the time”.

The penultimate paragraph of Walker's letter to Nicholson states "I make this protected disclosure in the hope that you will be abel to address the issues I raise".

Here is the definition of a protected disclosure in the 1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act.

Here is the definition of and guide on whistleblowing from the Government's website.

In the final paragraph of his letter to Nicholson, Gary Walker refers to the DH "policy on whistle-blowing, and would ... like this letter to be considered in that context".

It could not be any clearer: Sir David Nicholson misled the Public Accounts Committee.

UPDATED:HSJnow reports that Comrade Sir David has written to the PAC to tell them he misled them yesterday , as having reviewed the correspondence, the Comrade-In-Chief now accepts Gary Walker's version of events.

It's not as if this nonpareil of leadership, without whom the NHS apparently can't exist, had any choice in the matter.

Is Comrade Sir David losing his grip? It looks like it.