NHS families turn rage on Blair

The furious families of three patients at the Whittington Hospital today hit out at Tony Blair as the political row over the affair revealed in the Evening Standard became more bitter and personal.

Charity worker Nigel Scott, whose 13-year-old son James waited more than eight hours in casualty with suspected meningitis, directly accused No 10 of a smear against worried relatives.

"The briefings seem to suggest that we're criticising the doctors and nurses and that is completely untrue," he said. "The staff who treated my son were fantastic. The problem was there just weren't enough of them. My son was very sick and he waited a very long time to be seen. How would Tony Blair feel if his son was in the same position? Would he find it acceptable to wait eight hours before seeing a doctor?"

Another relative condemned Downing Street over a briefing yesterday when a spokesman for the Prime Minister gave intimate medical details about the individuals involved.

Lesley Hockley, whose 88-year-old uncle Sidney Hockley was left in an accident and emergency ward for five days, said it was "unbelievable" that Mr Blair should "give personal details about my uncle when he won't reveal personal medical details about his own family, such as whether his son has had MMR".

Mrs Hockley also voiced anger that Health Secretary Alan Milburn, backed by Mr Blair, had dismissed the families' complaints as "fiction". She protested "how can he say I am a liar? He hasn't even spoken to me and there are always two sides to the story. He has just accepted what he has been told by senior people from the hospital."

A murky battle was under way in Westminster and Whitehall today with accusations flying of spin, skullduggery and underhand behaviour.

The relatives of Rose Addis, 94, the first patient highlighted by the Standard complained bitterly at suggestions raised on Newsnight last night that during her first two days in casualty at the north London hospital the 94-year-old had refused to have her clothes changed because the nurses attending her were black.

Mrs Addis's grandson, Jason Gold, furiously protested that his grandmother was regularly dressed, washed and fed by two carers from Hackney Social Services, both from ethnic minorities.

"She absolutely adores them and they love her in return," he said. "To be accused of racism ourselves is just below the belt."

There also appeared to be question marks over how the suggestion of a racist element in the delay over treatment for Mrs Addis had emerged into the public domain - with suggestions from some Tories of a joint operation by the Health Department and the hospital in an attempt to "neutralise" the valid complaints and concerns of the families.

The treatment details of the other patients including James Scott-Faulkner and Mr Hockley, has produced the fiercest political conflict between the Government and Opposition since Iain Duncan Smith became leader of the Tory Party. At its heart is the intense battle between Tory and Labour to gain the upper hand over the state of the public services.

The Prime Minister, yesterday fought through a bruising exchange with the Tory leader in the Commons, will tomorrow attempt to regain the initiative with a keynote speech on the future of health, transport, education and other key services under his government and the threat he says would be posed should the Tories win power.

Mr Duncan Smith today refused to back down, insisting that it was right to raise the case of Mrs Addis, one of whose relatives is a constituent of the Opposition leader and who approached him to seek his help over her treatment.

The Tories also stepped up their attacks on the Prime Minister for authorising his officials to discuss confidential medical details.

Professor James Malone-Lee said that he was "horrified and intensely angry" after Mr Duncan Smith's charge that Mrs Addis had been "treated like a dog". The hospital has insisted its treatment of Mrs Addis and the other patients was correct.

Mr Blair also faced some uncomfortable contrasts being drawn between Downing Street's leaking of patients' treatment and his own refusal to say whether his baby son, Leo, had been given the controversial MMR jab - citing confidentiality.

Mike Stone, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "We were told it was not anybody's business because of confidentiality of the patient. If we have got senior civil servants giving briefings about individual patient's cases then it could be construed by some to be rather hypocritical."

As the row exploded into a repeat of the War of Jennifer's Ear - the case of a young girl's wait for an NHS ear operation which sparked the 1992 general election into life - questions were also being raised about a letter defending its case sent out by the Whittington.

Quoted by Mr Blair in the Commons, and briefed in detail by Downing Street afterwards, it issued a point-bypoint rebuttal of families' claims about patients' treatment and made references to NHS "investment."

Both techniques are favourites of Labour's high command. Downing Street categorically denied it had played any role in drawing up the letter but the same denial was still being awaited from the Department of Health and the Labour Party.

In a statement, the Evening Standard said: "While appreciating the pressures on NHS staff and the dedicated work many do, we believe it is important to report accurately when the treatment of patients is not as it should be.

"Our reporting has been entirely accurate."

Shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "What is disturbing is that both the Prime Minister and his Secretary of State for Health should comprehensively reject the family's account without either of them or any of their officials contacting the family." He said he was appalled by the release of highly personal details.

BMA chief rounds on party leaders
Boy's mother 'shocked and furious'
'How dare he call me a liar'
'My granny is not racist'
'14-hour trolley ordeal was degrading'
Comment: The case of Mrs Addis
Analysis: Whispers and inferences
Haskins: Politicians are crippling NHS
Talk about it