UK - Lymington Times - Ombudsman considers complaint

Ombudsman considers complaint over 'biased' fluoride consultation
AN official complaint to the health ombudsman over claims the consultation into plans to fluoridate drinking water was biased has moved a step further.
New Forest East MP Julian Lewis and county councillor for Totton, Coun. David Harrison, jointly wrote to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman following the controversial decision made by the South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) in 2009.
The SHA plans to add fluoride to Southampton's water supply next
year in a bid to tackle child tooth decay. It will affect 190,000 people around the city, including 8,000 Totton residents because of the layout of pipes.
Dr Lewis and Coun. Harrison submitted the joint complaint on the grounds the consultation was "hopelessly biased" in favour of fluoridation.
This week the letter was acknowledged by one of the ombudsman's assessors who wrote to Dr Lewis explaining the complaint had been assigned to a member of staff for
consideration, in conjunction with senior managers, to decide whether further action should be taken.
The joint complaint also raises the issue that the consultation was flawed. It said: "We believe that this consultation process was an exercise in simply going through the statutory motions.
"It is quite clear from the way it was set out, and the reaction of the statutory health authority to the results, that there was no conceivable response which anyone could have made to the consultation that would
have led the SHA to alter or abandon its predetermined position in favour of imposing fluoridation against the wishes of the community it was purporting to consult.
"Therefore we believe the SHA fell short of the standards which the public are entitled to expect in a manner of this sort."
The letter added that as a result, householders would have to drink artificially medicated water because only a minority of residents neglected their teeth.