Yet again Government fails to make this a criminal offence. Unless people at the top are heavily fined/jailed for this sort of thing it will continue to happen in our NHS. What is meant by 'they will be held accountable' ?? Utterly meaningless! We need a national public inquiry into such failings (and the endemic and institutional corruption and bullying) in the NHS in Scotland and we need it now! Craig White presided over the adverse event disaster at NHS Ayrshire and Arran where no-one learned from adverse events because staff were not allowed to see or read the reports from such incidents and therefore nothing was learned from them.Talk about putting Foxes in charge of Chicken Coops!??

I agree with Rab Wilson's comment, having been subject to bullying and intimidation by NHS and Scottish Government staff. Why? Because I raised issues of patient safety as a mother and carer, as an activist and campaigner, in our local psychiatric setting. We need transparency and level playing fields in terms of patients, carers and whistleblowers being protected.

I recently have had a complaint of unreasonable treatment by NHS Fife health board upheld by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, for their use of a locked seclusion room in a locked mental health facility on my son, which had no toilet and drinking water, and no proper plans for toileting, food and water intake.

I raised awareness of the human rights issues and for my sins was targeted in an adult protection investigation report by Fife Council and other statutory agencies. I used blogs to keep up the pressure in the midst of my complaining but it takes a strong person to survive the experience.

Yes, it takes a strong person to survive such an experience; we need more people like you Chrys to uncover the NHS patient abuse and neglect that is going on behind closed doors.

The Scottish Gov Quality Unit comment does not make sense. Repeated unannounced watchdog inspections and independent investigations show that adverse events are not rare within Scotland. Staff do know the best practice to follow when things go wrong, by following their statutory code of conduct. The longstanding problem is that incompetent/corrupt Health Boards regularly hound practitioners out of post when they do follow their professional code of conduct and advocate for safe health care for the public. The Scottish Government does not hold these health boards to account . While I welcome the announcement that NHS Boards will be held accountable by The Scottish Gov in future, we need to know why this is not happening now. A Public Inquiry into NHS Health Board cover-ups is the only way that healthcare will be made as safe as possible for everyone at all times. We do not need to refer to MidStaffs to demand a Public Inquiry. Evidence shows; and there is more to emerge that we have our own scandals and cover-ups going on behind closed doors.