If a partner agency goes public in their criticism do you respond in public and risk further deterioration in the relationship? Or do you express yourself privately so maintaining the relationship but at the cost of upsetting staff who feel you should have spoken up for them and your members who feel you should defended the organisation?
The leader called the chief executive into their office and points to a double centre spread article in the local paper laid out on their desk which is an exclusive interview with the chair of the NHS Trust hospital. Certain sections were been ringed with an angry bright red marker pen. These are quotes blaming the local authority and specifically adult social services for bed blocking as the main reason for the failure to reduce the waiting list, the long waits in A&E, the weekend scandal of ambulances queuing up outside A&E unable to admit seriously ill patients, the resulting pressure on GP surgeries and even the hospital's well documented budget overspend.
