NHS Fife’s Clinical Strategy has been nominated for a Golden Bull award for utter gibberish by a group fighting for plain English in public communication.
The 56-page document has been dismissed as “drivel” by members of the Plain English Campaign, who said that despite its importance the language used was scandalous.
Spokesman Steve Jenner said: “Those responsible for producing this have no idea of what is required. Having read this I suspect they care even less as they are treating the people of Fife with total disdain.”
He added: “Apparently they will `rationalise NHS Fife’s estate taking cognisance of the opportunities to work collaboratively with Fife Council and other public sector agencies. It will consider co-location, utilisation and future unified services models and facilities efficiency to define a future estates plan.`
“What?”
Mr Jenner said the entire strategy was lost in a world of management-speak and meaningless abstract concepts.
“This is supposedly about the organisation of healthcare for local people,” he said.
“No amount of cuddly pictures and flashy presentation can disguise this document’s failings.”
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley agreed the strategy was not user-friendly because of its language and added: “This is an important document that should influence local community planning of public services across Fife.”
Expressing concern that it was set against a backdrop of significant cuts and underfunding, he said: “NHS Fife, like all boards, faces massive challenges and needs to engage with the wider community and this strategy must be seen as a positive step in that direction but they do need to listen more widely as its implementation is progressed.”
NHS Fife has defended its work, saying a more understandable version will be published on its website.
A spokesman said: “Given the nature of this document, we have always recognised the need to produce an accompanying summary that is more accessible to the general public and both the final strategy document and a summary document will be published on our website within the next two weeks, as has been planned from the outset.”