Comment from press articles and websites:
ITV News -19 October 2022 Suboptimal care at East Kent maternity - 'Dr Kirkup said a culture of "deflection and denial" within NHS trusts when they are questioned about potential cases of substandard care is a "cruel practice" that "needs to be addressed". 'Mark Dayan - Nuffield trust - 5 May 2022 NHS patients are more likely to die – it is right to ask why 'Data from every available source tend to show that patients treated by the NHS are more likely to die than they would be if they received treatment for heart disease, strokes, or cancer in most other developed countries.' See Civitas report by Tim Knox Megan Ford – Nursing times – 12 January 2021 Whistleblower nurse calls for new body to tackle bullying in NHS ‘A nurse who was threatened by colleagues for speaking out about care failings at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust has said bullying remains a “real problem” in the NHS. Helene Donnelly has told MPs that more than 10 years on from the scandal – commonly known as Mid Staffs – she was still seeing “echoes” of what she experienced happening across the country.’ “Although it is in the minority, as we saw at Mid Staffs the results can be absolutely catastrophic” ‘She called for the development of a national body to improve workplace cultures in the NHS and “stamp out bullying once and for all”.’ Novum Law - 26 November 2020 Anne and Graeme Dixon, the parents of baby Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Dixon who tragically died in December 2001 aged just 11 months after significant hospital and community care failings said: “It has been six years since this inquiry was ordered and we have waited four years for Dr Kirkup’s findings into what happened to our darling Lizzie. We would like to thank Dr Kirkup for his courage in accepting this commission and for being prepared to expose awful failings and deception. “We have been striving to uncover the truth and forge a pathway to more honesty, openness and integrity in the NHS. We want to push for real change in the healthcare service when it comes to the monitoring and management of blood pressure in babies and children, and we want to ensure safer hospital and community healthcare for very vulnerable, disabled people, so that no other patients suffer in the way Lizzie did from inadequate and inappropriate care during her short life. No other families should have to witness such horrific events and lose cherished loved ones in this way, nor should they have to suffer the hell we’ve been through to learn the truth. Cover-ups must stop now. “Along our 19-year journey to find the truth, we have been failed by every agency possible. We have had to spend many years working tirelessly ourselves to gather and piece together the evidence of what happened to Lizzie and the 19 year cover-up that ensued. It is inconceivable to us that not one of these earlier agencies knew, or suspected, the truth. The evidence was there. We have been treated appallingly. “Over the years, we have unearthed a significant amount of evidence about the circumstances which led to Lizzie’s painful and needless death, some of this was not used by the Inquiry. While we are pleased to see the recommendations put forward and that some of the blatant lies, deception and cover-ups of mistakes and incompetence have been called out, we are disappointed that certain aspects of Lizzie’s care and the cover-up have not been addressed. “We hope that in due course we will be given the remaining answers. We cling to the hope Dr Kirkup’s report will do enough to ensure that lessons are genuinely learnt and that these are put into practice and that there is an honest and robust commitment, set out in law, that there is no longer a place for deception or dishonesty by the professionals and organisations we all place our trust in.” Shaun Lintern – The Independent – 26 November 2020 ‘Baby death ‘covered up’ for 20 years, damning inquiry finds That a cover up so rapidly and simply instigated could be so influential and persistent has significant implications for all of us’’ ‘The avoidable death of a baby girl was covered up by NHS staff and organisations over 20 years, a major inquiry has found - with facts “wilfully ignored, and alternatives fabricated” to deny her parents the truth. In a damning report published today, Dr Bill Kirkup, who led the investigation, said the death of baby Elizabeth Dixon in December 2001 when her breathing tube was blocked could have been avoided, concluding: “There were failures of care by every organisation that looked after her, none of which was admitted at the time, nor properly investigated then or later” adding: “A cover up began on the day that she died.” It added that after her death, Elizabeth’s “parents were met with indifference, rejection and outright deception instead of openness and honesty”.’ Phillipa Whitford - Politics Home - 25 September 2020 'Our whistleblowing legislation isn't fit for purpose, even when it is life or death' 'All organisations have a tendency to put their head in the sand, cover things up. The more public services are expected to function in a competitive market, such as with the NHS in England, the greater the pressure to protect the reputation rather than admitting there is a problem and trying to fix it.' Stephen Colegrave - Byline Times - 24 September 2020 'Perversion of Justice': The Abandoned NHS whistleblower' 'On a fundamental level, the NHS has a poor record of learning from its mistakes. The latest NHS data shows that one in 300 people who go into hospital die through negligence and one in 10 have something adverse happen to them. With this in mind, one would think that the NHS’ senior management and regulators would understand that supporting whistleblowers to root-out bad practice should not only be encouraged but protected. Yet, this doesn’t seem to be a priority.' Matthew Weaver and Denis Campbell - The Guardian - 11 September 2020 'Hospital boss praised by Matt Hancock told to end ‘toxic management culture’' 'Following a three-day review of the hospital, Prof Mahajan’s letter said senior anaesthetists had complained about a “toxic management culture that risks impairing their ability to care safely for patients”.' Gayle Rouncivell - Lancaster Guardian - 10 September 2020 Lancaster whistleblower surgeon lifts lid on post NHS life on the Isle of Man '"NHS whistleblowers are so vulnerable because the NHS are a monopoly and if you lose a job with them you are essentially out of work for the foreseeable future.' Helene Mulholland – The Guardian – 12 May 2020 'Elizabeth Gardiner: 'Health and care workers should be free to speak out on PPE'' ‘Whistleblowers are a safety valve – it’s everyone’s business to reveal dangerous working practices, says the head of the Protect charity’ ‘“What we would like to see is a proactive duty on employers to protect whistleblowers from being victimised,” she says. “That would be the sort of cultural shift that we’re looking for.”’ Denis Campbell – The Guardian – 31 March 2020 ‘NHS staff 'gagged' over coronavirus shortages’ ‘NHS staff are being gagged from speaking out about widespread shortages of personal protective equipment that they fear could risk their lives from the coronavirus, frontline medics claim. Protective equipment being diverted from care homes to hospitals, say bosses Doctors and nurses are being warned by hospitals and other NHS bodies not to raise their concerns publicly, according to a dossier of evidence collated by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK). Tactics being used to deter staff from voicing their unease include “threatening” emails, the possibility of disciplinary action and in two cases being sent home from work. Some doctors have been given a ticking-off after managers were irritated by material they had posted on social media.’ Tim Lezard – Union News – 31 March 2020 ‘GMB stands with NHS workers facing the sack for blowing the whistle on government’s coronavirus failings’ ‘NHS England, which has taken over communications in several health trusts, has warned doctors, nurses and other staff will be subject to disciplinary action if they raise with the media health and safety concerns relating to their workplace conditions or patient care, such as a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).’ Roger Kline – 19 February 2020 ‘The depressing state of bullying in the NHS’ ‘The figures show that 13.1% of staff reported that they were bullied, harassed or abused at work by managers (slightly down from 2018) and 20.6% reported being bullied, harassed or abused by colleagues (slightly up from 2018). Equally depressing is that less than half (48.6%) of those who experienced or witnessed bullying and harassment said they actually reported it (although this is up from 47.0% in 2018). 40.3% of staff reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress, which is up from 39.8% in 2018 and 36.8% in 2016. Some 22.9% also said they had unrealistic time pressures, up from 20% in 2018.’ Lawrence Dunhill – Health Service Journal – 18 February 2020 ‘Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust: Bullying exec suspended from nursing register’ ‘The rulings have angered West Lancashire MP, Rosie Cooper, who had pushed for the original inquiries into the trust’s failings, and referred Ms Lockett to the NMC. She wanted her to be permanently struck off. She said: “As an executive on the board of LCH, [Ms Lockett] cannot claim to be simply doing her job. She wasn’t just obeying orders, she helped set the culture and enforced the draconian measures that left staff suicidal and patients harmed. “What has to happen before people like Ms Lockett are really held to account? Nurses who have been struck off in the past for offences such as failing to complete documentation should be asking for their cases to be reviewed in the light of this perverse decision.” She said she would refer the decision to the Professional Standards Authority and raise the issue in Parliament.’ Rob Moss – Personnel Today – 11 February 2020 ‘Nurse unfairly dismissed for wanting to commence NHS whistleblowing process’ ‘A senior district nurse with 38 years’ experience was unfairly dismissed after she told management of her wish to instigate her employer’s formal whistleblowing procedure, an employment tribunal has judged. It followed numerous safeguarding concerns raised to her bosses about her team’s workload, employee stress and sickness, and a need for the retraining of healthcare assistants. The nurse had also raised concerns on the risk to patient safety, including one death she felt may have been preventable.’ BBC news – 10 February 2020 ‘East of England Ambulance Service staff 'silenced' over bullying’ ‘Hundreds of East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) employees reported bullying in 2018, while 28 non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have been issued since 2016. The GMB union said the figures showed a "heavy-handed culture".’ BBC News – 6 February 2020 ‘Southern Health NHS Trust deaths public investigation call’’ ‘An NHS trust should face a public investigation over patient deaths and "deeply regrettable" failures, a report has found.’ ‘Mr Pascoe said there had been "significant, serious and deeply regrettable failures" by the trust as well as "disturbing insensitivity and a serious lack of proper communication" with family members.’ Southern Health timeline April 2012 - Teresa Colvin dies after being found unconscious at Woodhaven Adult Mental Health Hospital at Calmore, Hampshire July 2013 - Connor Sparrowhawk drowns after an epileptic seizure at Oxford unit Slade House December 2015 - An independent report shows out of 722 unexpected deaths over four years, only 272 were properly investigated April 2016 - A CQC inspection report says the trust is continuing to put patients at risk June 2016 - Following a review of the management team, it is announced the trust's boss Katrina Percy is to keep her job July 2016 - The BBC reveals the trust paid millions of pounds in contracts to companies owned by previous associates of Ms Percy October 2016 - Ms Percy resigns December 2016 - A CQC report says investigations into patient deaths are inadequate August 2017 - A medical tribunal finds a doctor failed to carry out risk assessments for Connor Sparrowhawk 12 September 2017 - Dr Nick Broughton becomes Southern Health's new boss 18 September 2017 - The trust admits breaching health and safety law in the case of Connor Sparrowhawk November 2017 - The trust admits breaching health and safety law in the case of Theresa Colvin March 2018 - The trust is fined £950,000 for Mrs Colvin's death and just over £1m for that of Connor Sparrowhawk January 2020 - The Care Quality Commission rates the trust "good" following "significant improvement" BBC news – 4 February 2020 ‘Ian Paterson: Surgeon wounded hundreds amid 'culture of denial'’ ‘A culture of "avoidance and denial" allowed a breast surgeon to perform botched and unnecessary operations on hundreds of women, a report has found. An independent inquiry into Ian Paterson's malpractice has recommended the recall of his 11,000 patients for their surgery to be assessed.’ Shaun Lintern and Maya Yagoda – The Independent – 24 January 2020 '‘I wake up wondering how this happened to us’: the parents who have spent two years fighting for justice over their baby son’s death' Matthew Weaver and Denis Campbell – The Guardian – 24 January 2020 'Whistleblower tipped off second family over West Suffolk hospital death' ‘Dr Rinesh Parmar, chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, said: “We are incredibly concerned that a second whistleblower has had to raise concerns directly with a family regarding possible harm at West Suffolk. “This pattern speaks of a toxic culture where clinicians feel unable to speak up when things go wrong for fear of retribution. Given recent reports of West Suffolk’s ruthless response to hunt down anonymous whistleblowers, these fears appear to be well founded.”’ Shaun Lintern – The Independent – 23 January 2020 ‘East Kent hospitals: Criminal investigation into baby deaths at maternity unit’ Nada Al-Hadithy – Blog BMJ - 17 January 2020 ‘The NHS needs to do more to support its workforce’ The NHS is facing a workplace crisis reflected in the number of unfilled posts in the UK. Some estimates put this at around 100,000 vacancies. A report of 400 doctors’ experiences of “petty tortures” at the hands of NHS management has highlighted the need for the NHS to rethink the way it treats its staff. Shaun Lintern – The Independent – 15 January 2020 ‘I helped expose the Mid Staffs hospital scandal – and fear the NHS is about to repeat its worst mistakes’ ‘In my view, the leadership culture in the NHS today remains extremely toxic, with bullying rife, and discrimination against staff who speak out. The health service also remains chronically short of nurses – a critical role for ensuring the safety of any ward – while the number of patients soars, stretching staff more and more to cut corners and do the best they can.’ Ashleigh Webber – Personnel Today -13 December 2019 ‘Whistleblowing nurse awarded £127,000 following dismissal’ ‘Andrew Smith, a nurse at the Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust, was dismissed from his role in 2015 because he was seen as a nuisance, the tribunal was told. Smith, who had been a nurse for 28 years and had an “unblemished” career, was a trade union representative for the Royal College of Nursing. During 2013 and 2014 he made a number of protected disclosures about medication and patient care issues and claimed that staff were being bullied and harassed by managers and not provided with adequate rest under the Working Time Regulations.’ Miles Sibley – BMJ – 21 November 2019 ‘Changing the culture of learning from deaths’ ‘Evidence repeatedly shows that a poor culture of responsiveness to patients who have been harmed is not unique to one or two "bad apples". It is widespread.’ Sophie Hutchison – BBC News – 25 November 2019 Our son’s final days: ‘It was like he didn’t matter’ ‘An investigation into the death of a young, autistic man - left starving and desperately thirsty in hospital while waiting for a delayed operation - is to be reviewed. Mark Stuart spent five days in agony and died following a catalogue of failings by NHS staff. His parents say they have been battling for answers for four years.’ BBC News – 19 November 2019 ‘Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital: Babies and mums died 'amid toxic culture'’ Babies and mothers died amid a "toxic" culture at a hospital trust stretching back 40 years, a report has said. The catalogue of maternity care failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust are contained in a report leaked to The Independent. It reveals that some children were left disabled, staff got the names of some dead babies wrong and, in one case, referred to a child as "it"… Its initial scope was to examine 23 cases but this has now grown to more than 270, covering the period from 1979 to the present day. The cases include 22 stillbirths, three deaths during pregnancy, 17 deaths of babies after birth, three deaths of mothers, 47 cases of substandard care and 51 cases of cerebral palsy or brain damage. The interim report said the number of cases it is now being asked to review "seems to represent a longstanding culture at this trust that is toxic to improvement effort". Shaun Lintern – The Independent – 19 November 2019 ‘Largest maternity scandal in NHS history: Dozens of mothers and babies died on wards of hospital trust leaked report reveals’ Shelagh Parkinson – Blackpool Gazette – 8 November 2019 ‘Blackpool staff still wary of NHS whistleblowing scheme’ Peter Duffy - Royal Society of Medicine presentation - 26 March 2019 (posted 4 November 2019) Interview with Dr Peter Duffy - February 2019 (posted 31 October 2019) ‘Eye of the Storm with Emma Barnett – NHS Whistleblowing’ Seanín Graham – The Irish News - 29 October 2019 ‘Almost a quarter of Belfast trust staff say they've been 'bullied' by colleagues’ ‘BULLYING at Northern Ireland's biggest health trust is at an "unacceptable" level - with almost a quarter of staff reporting they had been targeted by colleagues. A leaked report into the 'culture' at Belfast health trust has unearthed problems around harassment and bullying, warning a "more compassionate style of leadership" is required to deal with it.’ Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal - 23 October 2019 ‘Regulator misled health secretary over safety scandal’ ‘Joshua’s father James Titcombe provided the NMC in 2010 with a chronology of what happened after his son’s death (written in 2008) in which it was mentioned that both he and his wife had been unwell before Joshua’s birth. This document was lost and not shared with a fitness to practise panel in 2016 with lawyers claiming the couple were unreliable witnesses.’ ‘He [James Titcombe] said the actions of the NMC after he raised concerns made the situation worse: “I knew that the excuses given at the time made no sense, but the fact that it took an external investigation before we were told the truth, is something that still shocks me.” A report by the Professional Standards Authority last year found the NMC had put the public at risk of poor care and was guilty of “frequently incompetent” complaint handling.’ Brian Devlin – The Herald – 15 October 2019 ‘Can real change still happen at NHS Highland?’ ‘We brought a challenge against the very organisation that had bullied me during my employment – an awful time that took me to the verge of suicide. To speak up against such power felt daunting, but the justification was self-evident. Someone described me recently as the “index case” in the epidemic. I may have been the first. But hundreds were to follow.… Ethical leadership is hard. The model has been demonstrated by the whistleblowers. It takes guts to do the right thing sometimes.’ Matt Bodell – Nursing Notes – 19 September 2019 ‘Nurses need to be kinder to each other or patients will be negatively affected, warns Senior Nurse’ ‘Teams that face rudeness experience a 12% drop in diagnostic and procedural performance’ Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal – 2 October 2019 ‘New rule to stop NHS directors ‘revolving door’’ ‘One controversial proposal in the Kark report was for the establishment of a Health Directors’ Standards Council which could investigate and bar directors guilty of serious misconduct. This is still being considered by Baroness Dido Harding, chair of NHS Improvement.’ Alex Moore – Shropshire Star – 2 October 2019 ‘Concern over Shropshire hospitals' whistleblowing procedures’ ‘Whistleblowing procedures at Shropshire’s major hospitals are “inconsistently followed”, and some low-level safety incidents are thought not worth reporting at all, according to a report.’ Scott Maclennan – The Inverness Courier – 25 September 2019 ‘NHS bullying ‘still going on’’ ‘A YEAR to the day since four clinician whistle-blowers signed a letter that alerted the public to bullying at NHS Highland, those at the centre of much of the action since claim the problem is continuing unabated.’ Jay Watts – Independent - 12 September 2018 (posted 21 September 2019) ‘The uncomfortable truth is that many psychiatric wards have a culture of sexual assault’ ‘Mental health services retain a language and set of patriarchal practices that allow people in power to shut down testimony that demonstrably keeps people who have been assaulted and abused locked in a situation, psychically and on our acute wards, where silence feels safer than speaking out.’ ‘History shows us that the currents of denial, avoidance and silencing around sexual violence are so powerful that change is only possible by altering the misogynistic, patriarchal culture they sit within.’ CQC Report Peter Duffy – Trends in urology & men’s health – July/August 2019 ‘Whistling in the wind?’ ‘Until NHS whistleblower and patient safety is taken seriously, the ruthlessness of some in NHS management will continue to ruin the careers of well-meaning and motivated staff. Until and unless such leaders show true courage and heavyweight commitment to medical staff raising legitimate concerns on care provision, the NHS will continue to lose thousands of patients a year to avoidable deaths while NHS whistleblowers continue to play Russian roulette with their careers.’ Minh Alexander – Blog post – 21 August 2019 ‘Carl Beech, CQC inspector, convicted child sex offender and fraudster: Activities at the CQC’ Rebecca Thomas – Health Service Journal – 21 August 2019 ‘Trust fined £80,000 after it ‘ignored clear evidence’ of threat to patients’ ‘Paul Lelliott, deputy chief inspector of hospitals and lead for mental health, said: “There is no excuse for this failure by Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership to protect their patients from harm. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident – but part of a wider failure to deal with concerns over safety as they arose. “The trust had failed to make basic improvements to protect the people in its care, despite having been aware of the dangers for years. They ignored clear evidence from their own reports on safety and as a result a patient suffered serious injury.” ‘. Richard Vize – The Guardian – 16 August 2019 ‘'Diva' doctors are the symptoms of a rotten culture - and put patients at risk’ ‘…General Medical Council research which laid bare five distinct problematic groups of healthcare professionals. Ironically, the study aimed to understand how doctors approach the task of building good workplace cultures that deliver high-quality care. It reveals the signs of poor culture, such as cynical staff, blaming and shaming, a defensive attitude to performance data and a lack of mutual support. Other flags include a focus on the technical side of medicine while ignoring patients’ experiences, professional battles taking precedence over patient needs and lax implementation of protocols such as surgical checklists. Stress and burnout are also often endemic in teams with a poor working culture. Five toxic subcultures emerged: divas, factional, patronage, embattled and insular. Divas are powerful, successful professionals who think the normal rules of behaviour only apply to others. They are typically ill-tempered bullies who disrespect managers and colleagues, and ignore protocols’ See also ‘My job as a doctor in today's NHS is draining me of humanity’ Colin Drury – The Independent – 15 August 2019 ‘NHS boss suspended on full £185k pay in Rotherham gets new job in Devon – and is suspended on full £300k pay’ ‘Second time in five years George Thomson kept NHS wages while absent during investigation’ Annabelle Collins – Health Service Journal – 14 August 2019 ‘Medical leaders must tackle 'untouchable' doctors’ ‘The five clinical subcultures Diva subcultures – powerful and successful professionals are not held to account for inappropriate behaviour. Left unchecked, divas become viewed as untouchable, and colleagues accommodate them and work around them. Factional subcultures – arise when disagreement becomes endemic, and the team starts to organise itself around continuing conflict. Those in dispute look for support and loyalty from colleagues, and staff may seek to avoid working with those on the ‘other side’. Patronage subcultures – arise around influential leaders who have social capital in the form of specialist knowledge, professional connections, high status, respect and access to resources. Embattled subcultures – where resource has been inadequate, and unequal to demand, practitioners eventually become overwhelmed. They feel besieged by the unmet need they see in patients, and may show signs of chronic stress such as short temper, anxiety and burnout. Insular subcultures – some units become isolated from the cultural mainstream of a larger organisation, resulting in professional practice or standards of care that deviate from what is expected. The isolation can be geographical or psychological.’ Full Report ‘How doctors in senior leadership roles establish and maintain a positive patient-centred culture: Research Report for the General Medical Council’ Rebecca Thomas – Health Service Journal – 8 August 2019 ‘Bullying culture ‘persists’ at scandal hit trust MP warned minister’ ‘A bullying culture still “persists” at Wirral University Teaching Hospital FT 18 months after a major governance scandal was exposed, a senior Parliamentarian has told health ministers.’ Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal – 7 August 2019 ‘NHS England launches independent review of teen death cover-up’ ‘An independent review is to be held into the death of a teenager after a clinical commissioning group interfered in an earlier investigation.’ Helen Puttick – The Times – 5 August 2019 ‘The NHS may be stretched, but it is not above criticism’ ‘There is a siege mentality in the Scottish NHS. An army of professionals conceal it well as they discuss symptoms and provide care, but defensive shields have been built around the boundaries, and inside them bitter battles simmer. Staff fear that if they raise concerns they will face reprisals, because in the present climate even constructive comments can be seen as criticism that should be suppressed. Allegations of bullying are accumulating, most notably in NHS Highland, where an investigation found that hundreds of people may have experienced inappropriate behaviour.’ Emily Woods – Holyrood – 1 August 2019 ‘NHS bullying and harassment advisory group holds first meeting’ ‘The group was set up after John Sturrock QC’s report on the culture of bullying at NHS Highland… The Sturrock review reported a significant number of the NHS staff it spoke to presented a picture of “dysfunctional” senior management that was “autocratic, intimidating, closed, suppressing, defensive and centralising” and fostered a culture in which “challenge was not welcome and people felt unsupported”.’ Lucy Ashton – Sheffield Telegraph - 25 July 2019 ‘More support for whistleblowers in health jobs A health body which has been criticised for the way it handles bullying says it is supporting whistleblowers’ ‘An independent NHS England investigation published earlier this year found evidence of poor behaviour by senior leaders and a breakdown in relationships at the top of Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group. It said the body’s handling of bullying and harassment cases was unsatisfactory and the CCG lacked a clear strategy. The investigation had been called for by Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts who said he had never heard so many complaints about one organisation.’ Euan O'Byrne Mulligan – Sutton & Croydon Guardian – 17 July 2019 ‘Dismissal had 'devastating impact' on life of whistleblowing Croydon doctor’ Hayley Dixon – The Telegraph – 15 July 2019 ‘Ban the use of controversial gagging orders to silence whistleblowers, MPs demand’ Kalyeena Makortoff – The Guardian - 15 July 2019 ‘Whistleblowers need independent office to protect them, say MPs’ ‘At least one whistleblower praised the NHS Freedom to Speak Up programme, though others said there was a lack of support and claimed its guardians were primarily human resources staff interested in a stepping stone for their careers. “The main problem is that these arrangements might look good on paper but can be ineffective or insufficient in practice. Some of the respondents to our call for evidence referred to this as ‘window dressing’ and ‘a charade’,” the report said.’ Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal – 19 June 2019 ‘Exclusive: NHS England ‘buried’ concerns over child cancer services’ ‘NHS England covered up serious problems with paediatric cancer care in London – which had seen children dying in “terrible agony” – and has “buried” attempts to overhaul the services, an HSJ investigation has established.’ Christine Lavelle – The Scottish Sun – 17 June 2019 ‘STATS SHOCK Scottish NHS staff make 200 bullying and harassment complaints in just one year’ Minh Alexander – Blog – June 14 2019 ‘Counting the cost of the CQC: Abuse, Whorlton Hall and CQC spin doctors’ Rebecca Thomas – Health Service Journal – 11 June 2019 ‘Draft CQC report had accused Whorlton Hall staff of 'bullying'’ 'According to a 2015 draft CQC report for Whorlton Hall hospital, where the horrifying abuse of patients with learning disabilities was exposed by BBC Panorama last month, “patients had accused staff of bullying and using inappropriate behaviour”. However, the CQC has claimed its draft “did not raise any concerns about abusive practice”, in response to allegations by a former inspector, Barry Stanley-Wilkinson, who claimed his original report did raise concerns over poor care.' Ben clover – Health Service Journal – 7 June 2019 Whistleblower was 'bullied to protect CCG chair' BBC News – 6 June 2019 ‘Inquiry launched into Liverpool Community Health failures’ Lawrence Dunhill – Health Service Journal – 6 June 2019 ‘Inquiry to examine 150 deaths at scandal trust’ Dennis Campbell – The Guardian – 3 June 2019 ‘NHS staff quitting due to burnout and bullying, report says’ Stephen Naysmith – The Herald – 29 May 2019 ‘NHS Highland chief apologises over bullying’ Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal – 30 May 2019 ‘CCG rewrote mortality review to eliminate blame’ Peter Urpeth – Holyrood - 9 May 2019 ‘Review into NHS Highland reports widespread bullying and harassment of staff.' Kieran Walshe – The Guardian – 5 May 2019 ‘The infected blood inquiry reminds us we need a less painful way to deal with health failings’ ‘Our system of scrutiny lets down patients and families and inflicts more agony’ ‘In healthcare alone, alongside the infected blood scandal, there’s an inquiry into disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson; the recent Gosport Memorial Hospital panel report; and a trail of past cases too long to list in full (Bristol, Shipman, Mid-Staffs). The bald truth is that most public inquiries represent a double failure. First, the organisations and systems that should keep people safe and deal immediately and effectively with any problems with the quality of care have failed, often over many years. Second, the authorities that investigate complaints and problems – which in health include the General Medical Council, the Department of Health (DoH) and, in some cases, the police – also failed.’ ITV Report - 29 April 2019 ‘Inquiry to open into potential cover-up behind contaminated blood scandal’ ‘An inquiry will open on Tuesday into a potential cover-up behind the contaminated blood scandal which saw thousands of people given infected transfusions by the NHS. Nearly 3,000 people died after being treated with blood products infected with Hepatitis viruses and HIV during the 1970s and 1980s. Thousands more of those affected have endured years of ill health, with one victim describing them as "dead men walking". The inquiry is expected to take three years and victim support groups estimate between 250 and 300 more of those affected will not live to see its conclusions. This is the latest inquiry into what has been described as the greatest scandal in the history of the NHS.’ BBC News – 30 April 2019 “Gosport hospital deaths: Police launch new inquiry” “In a statement read on behalf of the families, Bridget Reeves, whose 88-year-old grandmother Elsie Devine died in the hospital in 1999, said there had a been a "cover-up culture" surrounding previous investigations. She said: "We challenged and we challenged when we saw the corrupt evidence that so-called experts had submitted but the CPS slammed the door shut in our faces. "This immoral disaster was perpetuated by a club culture ... officials protected each other. "Our loved ones were killed and our lives destroyed."” Simon Fleming – British Medical Journal – 10 April 2019 ‘Simon Fleming: I launched an anti-bullying campaign to change culture in healthcare’ ‘…I had the upsetting, but not surprising bullying data from the BOTA census, years of data from the GMC and NHS Staff surveys, and more. I had the lived experience of me, my committee and my membership, which told me that the NHS had a problem.’ Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal – 16 April 'Exclusive: Government drops key safe staffing measure' ‘There is now no way to see at a glance how well hospitals are performing filling their nursing shifts. The data was seen as an important transparency improvement, and an important driver of safe nurse staffing levels, after the Mid Staffordshire care scandal.’ ‘“Clearly, the lessons of the Francis reports have been forgotten. We risk another such scandal if we continue to refuse to focus on increasing the number of registered nurses rather than other care posts either through educating more, retaining more or attracting the already qualified back into the NHS.”’ Adam McCulloch – Personnel Today - 16 April 2019 ‘‘Extend whistleblowing protections in line with new EU law’’ ‘The government is being urged to adopt new EU whistleblowing legislation, to avoid the risk of UK whistleblowers being left behind with out-of-date law.’ Minh Alexander – Open Democracy – 15 April 2019 ‘Let’s not pretend the UK protects whistleblowers – it doesn’t’ ‘In reality PIDA is very weak and invites additional whistleblower victimisation by employers during the legal process. To illustrate, Peter Duffy, surgeon and unfairly dismissed NHS whistleblower, has given a clear account of a typical whistleblower’s journey through the UK courts.’ Abi Rimmer – British Medical Journal – 9 April 2019 'Tackling bullying and undermining in the NHS' ““Opening the conference, Clare Marx, GMC chair, highlighted the importance of good clinical leadership in tackling unprofessional behaviours. She said that the regulator wanted to take a more active role in helping doctors to maintain and improve standards. “A big part of that is the development of leadership skills and crucially tackling unprofessional behaviour towards colleagues: anything from basic rudeness to outright bullying and undermining,” she said. “It is a constant theme of successive health inquiries and a constant in the responses we hear from doctors when we ask them what prevents them from doing their jobs as well as they would wish.”” Nick Triggle – BBC News - 3 April 2019 ‘Sexism, bullying and the NHS’ ‘Bullying, sexism, aggression and rudeness are commonplace among the medical profession, doctors say. In two separate developments, two GPs and the doctors' regulator have spoken out about their concerns. GPs Dr Zoe Norris and Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer described how women doctors had been belittled and sexually harassed at British Medical Association events. Meanwhile, the General Medical Council said it had found evidence of rudeness and bullying by senior NHS doctors.’ Dr Peter Duffy – Event ‘Spotlight on NHS whistleblowing’ – 26 March 2019 “Peter Duffy speaking on the abject failure of the last defence for whistleblowers, the Law” “…there has never, never been a more dangerous time for frontline NHS staff to consider speaking up” Minh Alexander – 31 March - 2019 “Spinning Death at Gosport II: DHSC FOI revelations & National Guardian’s fake independence” phsothetruestory – March 27 2019 “Is the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman impartial?” Amy Fenton – The Mail – 26 March 2019 “Second whistleblower makes allegations of ‘preventable deaths' at FGH trust” “SHOCKING allegations from a second hospital whistleblower could be indicative of a “culture of bullying and harassment”, an MP has warned.” Amy Fenton - The Mail – 26 March 2019 “Whistleblowing consultant Peter Duffy says hospital staff are scared to speak out” “A WHISTLEBLOWING consultant who was bullied out of his job believes a “systemic problem” remains at the trust which runs Furness General Hospital” Patient Experience Library – 26 March 2019 “Changing the culture of care Several of our previous newsletters have touched on the subject of learning from deaths. That's because there can be no worse experience in healthcare than the avoidable death of a loved one. The experience is even worse when bereaved relatives feel locked out of investigations, and have to fight - sometimes for years - to get the truth. The current investigation at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is just the latest in a series of such cases, taking in Mid Staffs, Morecambe Bay, Southern Health, Gosport and the Northern Ireland Hyponatraemia inquiry. Against this background, the National Quality Board has issued guidance on learning from deaths. This report from the Care Quality Commission looks at how - and whether - NHS Trusts have been implementing the guidance. It paints a mixed picture. Right at the start of the report, the Chief Inspector of Hospitals says, "... we are concerned that we are still seeing the same issues persist in some NHS trusts more than two years on. Issues such as fear of engaging with bereaved families, lack of staff training, and concerns about repercussions on professional careers, suggest that problems with the culture of organisations may be holding people back from making the progress needed". Happily, some Trusts have been more active in adopting the guidance, and the report gives examples, along with detailed case studies illustrating both challenges and practical solutions. These make it clear that "there is no one factor that guarantees good practice, with enablers and barriers to implementing the guidance being interrelated. However... the existing culture of an organisation can be a key factor in trusts' implementation of guidance". That question of organisational culture is important, as it clearly influenced developments at Mid Staffs and elsewhere. And on this point, the Chief Inspector sounds a warning note: "Cultural change is not easy and will take time. However, the current pace of change is not fast enough". “ Download report Tommy Greene and Sarah Knapton – The Telegraph – 23 March 2019 “Whistleblowing NHS worker to challenge NDA in test case for gagging orders” “A radiographer who blew the whistle on NHS malpractice is to challenge the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) she was asked to sign, in a hearing which could have major implications for the future of gagging orders. In 2012, Sue Allison, 57, reported a string of missed cancer diagnoses and wider concerns about standards of care in a breast screening unit at Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust. After raising concerns with a colleague, the pair claimed they were ostracised and subjected to extensive bullying, eventually leading them to file formal grievance complaints against the trust. In 2012, Sue Allison, 57, reported a string of missed cancer diagnoses and wider concerns about standards of care in a breast screening unit at Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust. But in 2015, Mrs Allison claims she was pressured into signing two non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) without legal advice, preventing her from publicly airing her concerns or bringing future claims against the trust. At a hearing at Manchester Employment Tribunal on April 2, her lawyer will now argue it was unlawful to ask her to sign an agreement without legal representation, and will press for it to be revoked.” “Stephen Kerr MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing, said: “The ongoing flouting of the ban on the use of NDAs in the NHS is unacceptable.” Medicine Balls, Private Eye – January 2019 “Whacking the Whistleblower” Dr David Levy – The Guardian – 26 February 2019 “Bureaucracy allows bullying in the NHS” “Those outside the tightly controlled structures have almost no effective voice, writes Dr David Levy Well done for highlighting the growing problem of active bullying in the NHS (Alert over bullying culture in the NHS, 25 February). This reflects no easing of command and control management, though a 2014 King’s Fund report found it unhelpful. But the number of cases is tiny (nearly 600 among 1.5 million NHS workers). It’s bullying by the organisation’s bureaucracy that’s the pervasive problem, because it hinders balanced discussions. Those outside the tightly controlled structures have almost no effective voice; even mild or implied criticism is strongly discouraged; career advancement (focusing on valuable “clinical excellence” awards for doctors) relies heavily on bureaucratic roles; and social media (where senior managers are now very busy) conveys just happy news. Robert Francis feared the lessons of the Mid Staffs inquiry of 2013 could be lost, and they were. It’s no surprise that we still have failing hospitals. Dr David Levy Maida Vale, London” Sarah Marsh – The Guardian – 24 February 2019 “Bullying and sexual harassment 'endemic' in NHS hospitals” “...the findings were very worrying, and that the problem was confined not just to doctors but affected all staff in the NHS. “Ultimately, this impacts the safety and wellbeing of patients, as staff who are either directly experiencing bullying, or are working in a toxic environment, will be unable to deliver the level of professional care they are capable of doing,”" “Ralph Fevre, professor of social research at the Cardiff School of Social Sciences, said that the “dreadful situation” of many NHS employees was “compounded by the anger of patients [and their relatives] who are getting the kind of service we might expect from an organisation at breaking point”. He added: “The policies and procedures NHS trusts have on paper are often exemplary but, as the latest figures show, they are mostly window dressing.” Annabelle Collins – Health Service Journal – 25 February 2019 “Revealed: Crisis at top CCG amid claims of bullying and ‘toxic’ culture” “Culture at Sheffield CCG described as “toxic” by former and current employees” Minh Alexander – 10 February 2019 “Jo Williams’ letter of 25 November 2011 to all CQC staff, about two CQC whistleblowers who were about to give evidence at the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry” “The kind of coverage we may get next week damages our reputation, damages our colleagues and weakens the future of the organisation, which we have all worked tirelessly to build over the last two and half years.” Minh Alexander – 7 February 2019 “The unfair sacking of Andrew Smith, NHS whistleblower and trade union representative. A heady cocktail of tainted ingredients. Or how CQC, NHS Improvement & Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust worked together on FPPR.” Chris Smythe – The Times – 6 February “NHS ‘is morally wrong’ to hound whistleblowers says Matt Hancock” “NHS hounding of whistleblowers is “morally abhorrent”” Laura Donnelly – The Telegraph – 6 February “Ministers pledge to clamp down on incompetent NHS chiefs” “Ministers will pledge to clamp down on failing NHS managers and do more to protect whistleblowers, under new plans. New standards for health service leaders will set out standards they have to meet, in a bid to drive out bullying and incompetence. Health Secretary Matt Hancock will today promise to create “a more just culture in the NHS, starting at the top”. And he will say that for too long the NHS has made “morally abhorrent” choices in forcing whistleblowers to risk their jobs if they want to speak up about safety risks.” Helen McArdle – The Herald – 4 February "BMA Scotland leader Dr Lewis Morrison: 'I wouldn't encourage doctors to whistleblow'" “Doctors are scared they will be victimised if they speak up about issues affecting patient safety, a leading medic has warned. Dr Lewis Morrison, chair of BMA Scotland, said he did not feel the trade union could encourage its members to whistleblow because the response is "not necessarily a good one for the individual".” Helen McArdle – The Herald – 3 February “Analysis: Why NHS bullying is a real threat to patient safety” “Is there something rotten at the core of the NHS? The spectre of bullying was thrust into the spotlight in September when a group of clinicians from NHS Highland took the highly unusual step of writing to the Herald to complain of a "culture of fear and intimidation" emanating from the "very top" of the organisation. A "practice of suppressing criticism" was having an adverse effect not only on staff morale, and by extension recruitment and retention, but also on patients, they said.” Ben Clover – Health Service Journal – 30 January 2019 “'Bullying culture' trust chief exec quits” Helen McArdle – The Herald – 3 February 2019 “Sheena Pinion: Fife cancer doctor 'bullied out of job' says whistleblowing cost her her career” “A DOCTOR who claims she was bullied out of her job for whistleblowing has spoken of her despair that she “will never work again” in NHS Scotland despite winning her unfair dismissal case.” Edwin Jesudason – Blog – October 2018 “A hard Day’s night” “This week saw the end of Dr Chris Day’s whistleblowing claims against Health Education England (HEE) and his former NHS Trust. A joint statement recognised Dr Day as a whistleblower and recognised his contribution to closing a gaping (and much denied) loophole in the law. But the joint statement also accepted that HEE and the Trust would probably have managed to resist his claims. What’s happened to produce this result?” Richard Vize – The Guardian – 5 October 2018 “Whistleblowing: public services fail to deliver on promise of open culture” “The courage of individual whistleblowers and relentless pressure from campaigners is driving a more open culture in public services. But many managers still feel they can bully staff with impunity, employment rights are trampled on, the whistleblowing legislation itself needs strengthening and enforcement is weak. Whistleblowers are still not safe.” Benedict Cooper – The Guardian – 2 October 2018 “‘I was left to fight alone for NHS whistleblowing protection’” “Blowing the whistle in the NHS is meant to be easy. Medical bodies such as the Department of Health and Social Care, the General Medical Council (GMC) and individual hospital trusts all encourage the practice – on paper. But when Chris Day, a junior intensive care doctor, raised numerous concerns about understaffing and safety at the intensive care unit of Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich, he found out all too quickly the toll it would take on his career.” Lauren Brown - People Management – 17 September 2018 “NHS bosses who fail to tackle bullying could face dismissal” “NHS directors who fail to take adequate steps to stamp out bullying could be sacked under revised legal guidelines, it has been reported. The ‘fit and proper’ test currently provides that NHS directors have a duty of care to their patients, but the proposed extension would broaden this duty to cover the wellbeing of staff. Health minister Stephen Barclay told The Independent he had asked Tom Kark, the lead counsel at the public inquiry into the high patient mortality rates at Mid Staffordshire hospital trust, to carry out a review. The stricter test could apply to up to 2,800 directors. Barclay said: “That one in four NHS staff have experienced bullying, harassment or abuse, and that more than twice as many BAME staff have suffered discrimination from their manager or colleagues than white staff, is deeply alarming and should be a call to arms for urgent action across the NHS.” He added that measures such as body cameras for paramedics and a stronger ‘fit and proper’ person test for managers would help tackle toxic workplace cultures.” Henry Bodkin – The Telegraph – 31 August 2018 “Scandal-hit NHS Trust faces calls for wider investigation into deaths on maternity unit” “Dozens of families have come forward with concerns their babies may have been killed or seriously injured at a “toxic” NHS maternity unit accused of being obsessed with natural births.” “Rhiannon Davies, whose daughter Kate died in 2009 following delivery at SaTH, yesterday described the trust as “defensive” and “unwilling to learn”.” “Mrs Davies told the BBC she hoped the expanded review would lead to prosecutions where appropriate. “It is unacceptable that this trust is still in denial,” she said. “This is an absolutely toxic trust with a failing management.”” Dr Murphy – The Guardian – 20 June 2018 “I write this as an anonymous NHS consultant – I recognise the culture that led to Gosport” I write this as an anonymous NHS consultant, who wants to work in a more honest and open health service. I want to work in an NHS where families can feel confident that their love ones are in “safe hands” and where compassion comes as standard. GP’s lethal opiate prescribing ‘responsible’ for up to 650 deaths An NHS in which poor care is shunned and speaking-up is the norm. An NHS which actively learns from its failings and pro-actively involves patients and carers in ensuring future patients are protected from harm. I want to work in an NHS where patient safety is ingrained within the culture of the organisation, where covers-ups (and therefore the necessity for whistle-blowing) have been confined to history.” Tom Foot – Islington Tribune – 3 August 2018 Whittington Hospital bullies left staff ‘broken’ and ‘a wreck’ “The 72-page report says: “There are numerous examples of staff being fearful of opening emails, attending meetings and having one-to-one exchanges with some managers. Staff do not usually describe themselves as ‘broken’, ‘a wreck’ or ‘it destroyed me’ without good cause.” The Whittington has pledged to shift towards a more “compassionate leadership” regime and to introduce a new “email etiquette”, among other measures.” “THE report reveals the impact bullying had on staff, with one worker saying they were told by a manager: “If I say jump, you jump.” Other testimonies included: • “I am fearful every time an email from the leadership team in my department arrives in my inbox. I shake and tremble. I think: what will happen next and how am I going to manage this next encounter?” • “I am made to feel an utter fool in front of her. She screams and shouts at me and bellows across the desk. I feel sick to my stomach.” • “My stomach churns every time I see an email from the leadership team [departmental leaders]”, adding: “When I brought it up with her, she started threatening me.” Several staff described their experiences of working alongside managers as “frightening” or even “terrifying”. One said: “I am too frightened to sit in an office alone with this matron.” Another said: “My manager terrifies me. I came into work when I was unwell. I went to work [because] I was too terrified to tell her that I wasn’t well.” One described going to work as a “daily trauma” while another said they were “suicidal and off work for several months with stress and anxiety”. Others said: “I am just broken. They took away my confidence” and “I was a wreck. I was sobbing.”” Laura Fulcher – The King’s Fund – 15 March 2018 “Let’s be frank about the NHS” “Laura Fulcher explains how her poor experience as an NHS patient has prompted her to question whether our affection for the NHS as a national institution is blinding us to how it needs to change and improve.” “I paint a picture steeped in impossibility – everything seems just too difficult. With the menacing rhetoric, the ‘limited resources’, the jargon, the adversarial public relationships, the demonised government, the politicised system, the fact that policy decisions are all made so very far away… how can change ever be made? The solution is brutal honesty.” Andy Cowper – Health Service Journal – 30 July 2018 “Cowper’s Cut: A system problem” “Good news has arrived, along with the rain: there is a new euphemism for the NHS management SNAFUs. Let’s all chant it together! No, not “we can do this!”. Your new mantra for summer 2018 is “it’s a system problem”… The beigest euphemism “System problem” tends to be the beigest euphemism possible for “I genuinely don’t have a clue what I’m talking about or doing here”… The phrase “it’s a system problem”, when (as so often of late) wrongly used, is an Anderson Shelter where the confused, the incompetent and the mediocre can hide. ‘Ooh, but aren’t you calling for a blame culture?’ Um, no. I’m not calling for a blame culture. I am however calling for a “finding out buffoons” culture. The two are not the same.” Lawrence Dunhill – Health Service Journal – 27 July 2018 “Review: Arranging new job for discredited CEO ‘accepted practice at the time’” “Former chief executive of the scandal hit Liverpool Community Health Trust was offered a secondment by the TDA” BBC News – 20 July 2018 “Low NHS morale is 'heartbreaking' says Matt Hancock” “Seeing how NHS staff feel "undervalued" is "heartbreaking", the new Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said. In his first speech since taking the job, Mr Hancock said he was horrified at the level of bullying reported by staff. The British Medical Association welcomed the sentiment but said it needed to be underpinned by action.” Chris Baynes - Independent –21 July 2018 “Whistleblowing law 'wholly inadequate' for protecting staff who speak out, say MPs and campaigners” “Senior MPs and campaigners are demanding the government overhauls laws around whistleblowing, calling the current legislation “wholly inadequate” and “not fit for purpose”. They argue a change in the law is essential to stop the unfair practice of whistleblowers routinely losing their jobs after lifting the lid on often dangerous and illegal practices. Among those worst affected are NHS doctors, many of whom have been fired after speaking out about malpractice such as bullying, faulty medical equipment and unsafe staffing levels. Hundreds of whistleblowers claim they faced recriminations last year The calls for reform come in the wake of deaths at Gosport War Memorial hospital, where at least 456 patients were killed by lethal doses of opiate painkillers given “without medical justification”. Nurses had raised the alarm more than 20 years before the scandal was finally exposed last month, but their concerns were ignored. At least one of the nurses involved is alleged to have been bullied out of her job after blowing the whistle. Campaigners warn scandals like Gosport could happen again because employers are not bound by the current law to act on whistleblowers’ concerns.” NHE (National Health Executive) - 19 July 2018 “MP leads calls for whistleblowing legislation to be changed: ‘We need a specific NHS law’” “A leading MP and doctor has told MPs that the current law used for whistleblowing is outdated and could potentially prevent whistleblowers from coming forward in the future. Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Dr Philippa Whitford, an SNP politician and surgeon, said the success rate of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) used to bring concerns to the fore was “appalling” and called for new legislation altogether. Dr Whitford spoke of previous scandals including Gosport and Morecambe Bay involving negligent practice for several years, and often whistleblowers who might have brought the issue to light were “punished or ignored.” “The tragedies at Gosport brought the whole issue back,” she said. “A nurse had come forward years and years ago, and could have saved hundreds of lives had she been listened to. Not being listened to is almost the least that can happen to a whistleblower, in that often they suffer detriment or reprisals and even lose their jobs.”” BBC News – 2 July 2018 “MSPs want more help for NHS whistleblowers” “A Holyrood committee has called for the creation of an "open and transparent" culture in the Scottish health service. The Scottish Parliament health committee said significant changes were needed to ensure health workers were able to voice their concerns. It has reported after its inquiry on the subject found one third of NHS staff unwilling to speak up. The Scottish government has created a new post to make it easier for those with concerns to come forward. The committee called for the government to go further and recommended it supported the introduction of an external investigative line alongside the existing confidential advice line. It said the government should review how NHS managers are currently regulated and how that differs from health professionals, potentially creating an imbalance. The committee also provided recommendations on transparency in corporate governance, calling for NHS boards to become more open and honest about pressures and challenges they face.” Evening Standard – 28 June 2018 “The Reader: Whistleblowing just highlights why NHS needs more support” "Far too often we see NHS staff condemned instead of commended for whistleblowing or “speaking up”, to use the preferred NHS term." BBC News – 26 June 2018 “'Bullying and harassment culture' uncovered at NHS Lothian” National Health Executive – 26 June 2018 “Scathing government review into NHS region blasts bullying and blame culture” “A government-backed review into a major Scottish region has uncovered a culture of bullying and harassment where concerns raised were discouraged, with staff made to feel they had been “blamed rather than supported.” The review into NHS Lothian, a region which serves around 800,000 people, including all major services for Edinburgh, found that a lack of structured and robust management led to confusion and poor focus on patient safety experience.” Tom Moberley – BMJ – 18 June 2018 Dido Harding, NHS Improvement: “I’m shocked at the lack of basic people management skills in the NHS” “Better leadership training in the NHS would increase staff engagement and tackle bullying, the chair of the NHS trust regulator tells Tom Moberly Since she joined watchdog NHS Improvement as chair in October 2017, Dido Harding has been struck by the ways in which the health service falls short in the treatment of its staff. “I am quite shocked at the lack of some of the basics of people management that I would expect to see,” she says. “That’s not to say that there are not pockets of complete brilliance—of course. there are. I’ve seen examples of some of the best people management and leadership I’ve ever seen. But it is unbelievably inconsistent.” Harding joined NHS Improvement, which regulates NHS trusts in England, after a string of senior jobs in the private sector, most recently as chief executive of telecoms company Talk Talk. Speaking at the Health Foundation annual event in London on 22 May, she says that, coming into the NHS as an outsider, she can’t get her head around the prevalence of bullying among health service staff. “It’s awful,” she says. “The percentage of staff saying that they have been a victim of or have witnessed bullying is three, four, fivefold more than you would see in other organisations.” The high levels of bullying seen in the health service arise, she believes, from shortcomings in management skills across the NHS. “I suspect it’s a real indication of an immaturity in the whole system in what good management looks like,” she says. “Good management isn’t soft and fluffy—good …” Patient Experience Library – 26 June 2018 “Gosport: An end to anecdote” "A 2015 report from Dr.Foster explored the uses and abuses of performance data in healthcare. It found plenty of ways to manipulate statistics, including bullying of staff, "gaming" waiting time and mortality data, distorting patient pathways to meet treatment targets, and arguing about data quality in order to divert attention from poor care...” “Even when statistics are reliable, professional and organisational fear can put reputation before truth. At Morecambe Bay and Southern Health, and in the Hyponatraemia inquiry, defensiveness, collusion and cover-up were common factors.” Sue Reid - Daily Mail – 20 June 2018 “Whistleblowing nurses were appalled by patient deaths back in 1991 but hospital bosses silenced them and hundreds more patients died” Nick Triggle – BBC News – 20 June 2018 “Shipman, Bristol, Stafford, Morecambe Bay - and now Gosport" “One by one the scandals have become etched on the public consciousness. The mass killings by Harold Shipman. The deaths of babies undergoing heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary and born under the care of Morecambe Bay maternity services. The needless suffering of patients at Stafford Hospital. Now we can add Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire to that list. News that 456 patients died after they were given opiate painkillers without reason is one of those moments that send a shudder through the NHS - and the nation. All these scandals are, of course, different. Shipman was about the actions of one person. Stafford was an institutional failing on a mass scale. Gosport has elements of both. But there are similarities too that run through all of them - and they go to the heart of what perhaps still remains an uncomfortable truth about healthcare. Whether it is in the GP's surgery, on a ward in a hospital, a room in a care home or from the comfort of your sofa during a home visit, patients see doctors and other healthcare staff when they are at their most vulnerable. The interactions are based on trust. A trust which is overwhelmingly repaid by the thousands of dedicated staff who treat millions of patients every week in the NHS. But bad practices can set in and poor care can go unchallenged. It is the common thread that runs through all four cases. And it begs two questions. § Prescribed painkillers 'shortened 456 lives' § NHS closed ranks, says Norman Lamb § Reaction to hospital deaths report How can it happen? In unveiling his findings, panel chairman Bishop James Jones talked about the "institutionalised" nature of what went wrong at Gosport. A culture where the unacceptable became acceptable had developed. It seems shocking. But it shouldn't. In any workplace, the culture and values are key. In an organisation the size of the NHS, they come from the top, but also from those you work with directly.” BBC News – 20 June 2018 "Gosport hospital deaths: Prescribed painkillers 'shortened 456 lives'" “The report found there was a "disregard for human life" of a large number of patients from 1989 to 2000. It said Dr Jane Barton oversaw the practice of prescribing on the wards. There was an "institutionalised regime" of prescribing and administering "dangerous" amounts of a medication not clinically justified at the Hampshire hospital, the report said.” The Patient Experience Library – 30 May 2018 “15 steps for maternity” “The consultation document states that "The context in which patient safety incidents occur is extremely important". It says that "By considering the context we are asking what caused an incident, rather than who is to blame". This is vitally important, given the learning from major failures at Trusts including Mid Staffordshire, Morecambe Bay, and Southern Health. In every case, part of the context for avoidable harm and death was an organisational culture that devalued patient experience and dismissed the concerns of patients and relatives.”... "The challenge is based on a quote from the mother of a child needing frequent hospital admission. Her observation was that, "I can tell what kind of care my daughter is going to get within 15 steps of walking on to the ward”. And sure enough, a series of practical guides prompt people taking the challenge to record immediate impressions of a healthcare service - taking in features such as "welcoming", "safe", "clean" and "calm". Anyone who has read the report of the Francis Inquiry will know that these are powerful pointers towards the underlying wellbeing of staff, systems, and, ultimately, patients." Andy Cowper – Health Service Journal – 21 May 2018 “Cowper’s Cut: The less deceived” “There is also a culture at work in much of the NHS, which incentivises bullying, ersatz compliance, obfuscation and a lawyers-first approach. There is a problem with any system that has to supply the centre (or centres) with “the right answer”, come what may. There is far too often a tendency for big figure in the sector only to become candid about the truth of what’s happening in the NHS as they are reaching the exit door or once they are through it.” [Spot on Andy! – RP] Dr Kailash Chand – Pulse - 9 May 2018 “We need zero tolerance of bullying of GPs” “Bullying is a persistent problem within the NHS, which has significant negative outcomes for both the individuals and organisations affected… It is important to recognise that although much of the literature focuses on the bullying of junior doctors and medical students, the problem is also evident among GPs and hospital consultants, while anecdotal evidence suggests that consultants may be bullied by other consultants or senior managers… We must move away from a culture that accepts and expects that stress and bullying is inevitable, and work towards improving working conditions for the profession. A zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment has to be implemented from the top of our NHS organisations.” Sara Ryans blog – May 2018 “Entering the labyrinth; a leder tale” “Here I reflect on the opaque and confusing labyrinth seemingly designed to make the premature deaths of learning disabled people disappear” [An excellent article by Eileen Parkes and goes to the heart of the problems within the NHS. A complete failure to value and care for its staff - RP] Eileen Parkes – The Guardian – 23 April 2018 “I am a burnt-out doctor. This is why it matters” “The shocking number of physician suicides indicates a culture and system that fails to value the profession” Chartered Society of Physiotherapy - 29 March 2018 “Staff survey shows bullying is rife in NHS” “CSP analysis of the latest NHS staff survey shows a worrying proportion of physiotherapists experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from staff and patients in the last 12 months.” “Almost 13,000 physiotherapists in England’s NHS responded to the 2017 NHS staff survey, an important indicator of staff experience. Of these, 26 per cent said they had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse by patients. In addition, 23 per cent had been bullied, harassed or abused by staff.” Tom Peterkin - The Scotsman - 17 March 2018 “Scots doctors driven abroad by bullying and lack of work-life balance” “Young doctors leaving Scotland have identified bullying by senior colleagues, poor work-life balance and a lack of NHS support as reasons for heading abroad.” Nicola Merrifield - Nursing Times - 14 March 2018 “Rising stress, bullying and errors among midwives due to workplace pressures” “Increasing stress from high workloads, alongside rising numbers of bullying incidents and errors that could have hurt staff or patients, have been uncovered in a survey of UK midwives and maternity support workers.” “Meanwhile, cases of harassment, bullying or abuse between colleagues had gone up from 33% in 2016, to 35.7% this year. Similarly, bullying by managers was reported by 36.3% of midwifery staff this year – an increase from 31% in 2016.” Richard Taunt – Blog Nuffield Trust – 6 March 2018 “View from the summit” “The culture problem But the elephant in the room that we didn’t talk about was the whole host of data sources telling us that bullying, from the top downwards, is still a massive problem in the NHS. The inquiries (and follow-up reports) of Robert Francis and Bill Kirkup were explicit that behaviour seen in Mid-Staffordshire and Morecambe Bay were closer to the norm than many of us feel comfortable to admit. How much has changed? As told by the NHS Staff Survey (the 2017 results out today), the percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the last 12 months has reduced since 2015 – but only marginally (24.9% to 24.3%). Only 48% of those affected had reported it. That such bullying goes on is not disputed. This might be the biggest obstacle to our biggest challenge, and yet we barely talk about it. And while there are some fantastic exceptions, such as the work of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, you start to wonder how much of this is merely silence, or its more malign bedfellow, acceptance. What behaviour do we wrongly accept in the NHS as just the way it is? Yes, undesirable, but part of the overall package, and too entrenched to shift. This is where #metoo started… How would it look in the health service? What would a version of #metoo look like for bullying in the NHS? To allow people, at any level, to know that they're not alone, that bullying behaviour has no place in the NHS in any circumstance, and that something needs to change.” Nicola Merrifield – Nursing Times - 8 March 2018 “Hunt urges whistleblowing guardians to tackle ‘profoundly flawed’ NHS culture” “The health secretary has told the new whistleblowing guardians their work is at the “heart” of a change needed in the NHS to tackle a “profoundly flawed” culture around raising concerns.” Anonymous comment – “In my years representing nurses I have never seen a whistleblower return to their place of work or indeed their role as a nurse. I have dealt with vindictive non nursing managers who threaten NMC without any idea of what charge. I have seen perpetrators manage to leave on early or medical retirement without facing any repercussions for their behaviour or allegations and I have seen senior managers moved sideways into other posts to start their bullying behaviour all over again. I'm sorry but no amount of whistle blowing guardians will give the mental of physical security for staff to come forward, a sad situation in 2018.” Shaun Lintern - Health Service Journal - 5 March 2018 “NHS Improvement investigation exposes 'deep cultural issues' at trust” Nicola Merrifield – Nursing Times - 26 February 2018 “Bullying among trust’s A&E nurses created ‘tribal culture’” Anonymous comment: “Not just in A &E it’s throughout the NHS. It’s a power game” Shaun Lintern - Health Service Journal - 26 February 2018 “A&E department bullying and 'tribal divisions' exposed” “A bullying culture at Wirral University Hospital’s emergency department has been allowed to persist for years with a lack of action by senior managers, according to an internal report.” [How many more reports/investigations will there be before we take the problems of culture and behaviour in the NHS seriously? RP 14 Feb 2018] Richard Vize – The Guardian - 10 February 2018 “Liverpool NHS scandal shows how culture of denial harms patients If staff do not feel able to speak out about their concerns, something is rotten at an organisation’s core” “The two most shocking revelations to emerge from the investigation into Liverpool community health NHS trust are that every part of the system failed, and it happened even as the trust was considering what it should learn from the Mid Staffordshire scandal. The independent review by Dr Bill Kirkup into events at the trust between 2010 and 2014 shows the root cause of the trust’s problems was an inexperienced and bullying leadership obsessed with achieving foundation trust status, irrespective of the effect on patients. This toxic culture seeped into every part of the organisation, breaking the morale of frontline staff and inflicting serious clinical harm. Those brave enough to raise concerns risked bullying, harassment and suspension.” “But above all, the Liverpool scandal demonstrates yet again that an open culture which listens to staff needs to be at the core of every NHS institution. Instead, dissent was crushed and a culture of denial allowed patient harm to proliferate. A cursory glance at the annual staff survey would have been enough to reveal that something was badly wrong. If staff do not feel able to speak up, something is rotten at an organisation’s heart.” Michael Buchanan and Camilla Horrox - 7 February - BBC News “Failed NHS trust caused 'unnecessary harm' to patients” Mike Waites and Connor Lynch – Grimsby Telegraph – 6 February 2018 “Health bosses have been urged to tackle a “bullying culture” facing staff at Grimsby’s crisis-hit NHS trust.” A wide-ranging review found senior managers at the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS trust had failed to act appropriately over allegations of serious safety concerns. A bullying culture was also identified which left some staff “fear the consequences of speaking up”. NHS chiefs have been given until the end of the month to draw up an action plan in response to 23 recommendations by the National Guardian’s Office following the investigation. Toni Saad - The Spectator - 8 Jan 2018 “The NHS cannot heal itself” [I like the cartoon, but positive change is possible - RP] Chris Smyth - The Times - 3 February 2018 “Healthcare crippled ‘by a bossy culture’” “Autocratic management is a leading cause of poor NHS care, according to the compiler of a European health service league table that ranks Britain 15th. The UK trails Slovakia and Portugal while the best performers such as the Netherlands and Switzerland pull away, according to the Euro Health Consumer Index. Treatment is Britain is mediocre and there is an “absence of real excellence” in the NHS, the report concludes. Only Ireland does worse on accessibility measures such as availability of same-day GP appointments, access to specialists and waits for routine surgery. The findings come after a global study this week found cancer survival in Britain still lagged well behind the best in the world. Arne Björnberg, who compiles the Euro Health Consumer Index, said: “Cancer survival rates are one of the prime examples of NHS mediocrity.” More money is needed to improve care, according to a study that finds a strong correlation between treatment results and how much countries spend on health. However, Professor Björnberg said that the most urgent lesson the NHS could learn from other countries was about the corrosive effects of an “autocratic top-down management culture”. He said: “As a Scandinavian what strikes you when you visit the UK is British management is extremely autocratic. Managing 1.5 million using a top-down method doesn’t work very well… “You have 1.5 million intelligent and dedicated people working for [the NHS]. Liberate the medical profession and put politicians and amateurs at arm’s length.” Belfast Telegraph - January 31 2018 “Hyponatraemia Inquiry: Northern Ireland children's deaths 'avoidable' - doctors covered up failures” “The deaths of four Northern Ireland children could have been avoided and doctors covered up failures in patient care, a major inquiry has found. Hyponatraemia Inquiry chair Sir John O'Hara QC said medical professionals should stop treating their own reputations and interests first and put the public interest first. Sir John O'Hara QC investigated the deaths of children in Belfast, examining whether fatal errors were made in the administration of intravenous fluids, and said some medics had behaved "evasively, dishonestly and ineptly". He was scathing of some witnesses saying they "had to have the truth dragged of them". The Hyponatraemia Inquiry delivered its findings on Wednesday. It examined the deaths of five children, finding that four of them were avoidable. The inquiry was set up almost 14 years ago to examine whether fatal errors were made in the administration of intravenous fluids. Sir John said: "The failure by senior clinicians to address the issue with appropriate candour suppressed the truth and inhibited proper examination of what had gone wrong. "The motivations for this concealment maybe multiple but I (saw) amongst them a determination to protect their professional colleagues from having to confront their clinical errors. "As a result the opportunity to learn lessons was disregarded and critical learning was lost to clinicians delivering fluid therapy to other children in Northern Ireland."” ""It is time that the medical profession and health service managers stop treating their own reputations and interests first and put the public interest first."" BBC News - 31 January 2018 "Hyponatraemia inquiry: Children's hospital deaths were avoidable" "In his report, Mr Justice O'Hara found that:
Andy Cowper - Health Service Journal - 29 January 2018 "Cowper’s Cut: The arm round the shoulders" “If healthcare is a people business, we ought to wonder why the NHS is often not great at supporting its people ie its staff, points out Andy Cowper Commentators often state the obvious, so let’s get the cliché out of the way: healthcare is a people business. Yes, of course there is lots of science in healthcare, be it material or social. One of the reasons healthcare’s an interesting industry is that it’s such a cocktail of the empirical, the relative and the relational. The people business and the relational matter much more than we tend to explicitly acknowledge. Perhaps, that’s why we acknowledge some of it implicitly. So, we “heart” the NHS: it might be one of the last things we’re still culturally allowed (if not actually expected) to love unironically. This is why I keep banging on about the NHS needing a chief anthropologist much more than it needs any chief inspector. Culture is a big problem for the NHS. The basic irony, that the NHS (a machine built to help people when they are in need) has a culture where providing the right answer to central authority so often wins out, is not lost on anybody who thinks seriously about these things… The NHS has always run on discretionary effort. Staff resilience has only so much in the tank, and it feels like the machine is running on fumes. I can’t predict exactly where this will lead us if I’m right about this. But it won’t be pretty.” Helen Weathers – Daily Mail – 13 January 2018 “Grotesque betrayal of trust” “But there’s no openness, no transparency and no willingness to accept they might have got it wrong. At one point, they even suggested we were to blame for Harriet’s death” “Root cause analysis investigation report” – Executive Summary Final Report 11 December 2017 “Conclusion – The overall conclusion of this investigation was that the death of baby H was almost certainly preventable” Sebastian Murphy-bates – Mailonline – 10 January 2016 “Couple whose daughter was stillborn following an ‘horrific’ five-day labour call for criminal charges against the hospital and staff after damning report finds the death was ‘preventable’” "The 'almost certainly preventable' death of a stillborn baby has resulted in the Crown Prosecution Service and the Health and Safety Executive being urged to intervene. Harriet Hawkins was born at Nottingham City Hospital after a 'horrific' five-day labour in April 2016 - nine hours after parents Jack and Sarah Hawkins were told she'd died. An independent investigation into Harriet’s death, published in December last year, found a series of contributing factors, including a 'lack of midwifery leadership', 'inadequate processes to support communication of clinical information', a 'poor safety culture' and a 'lack of governance in relation to reporting serious clinical incidents. Now Jack and Sarah are referring their daughter’s death to the Crown Prosecution Service and Health and Safety Executive Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH). The NHS Trust, which manages City Hospital, has 'apologised unreservedly' to the couple for the shortcomings in care. But Jack and Sarah, who both worked at NUH at the time, believe the trust is yet to accept responsibility for their daughter’s death. As a result, they are taking the 'unusual' step of referring their daughter’s case to the CPS and HSE. They will also be referring the doctors and midwives involved in Harriet and Sarah’s care to the relevant professional bodies for further investigation. Sarah, 34, explained the couple’s decision to take the case further. She said: 'It is such a relief to have the external people listen to us, to be open and honest and for them to be transparent. 'Unfortunately that’s not the experience we had with the hospital - and that’s all we’ve really wanted. 'After we were told Harriet was dead, we knew something had gone wrong and we wanted someone to listen to us and that didn’t happen. 'It felt like it was barrier after barrier, so it’s such a relief that we’ve got this [the external report] through. 'I think it’s sad because we worked at the trust and we believed in them and trusted them to deliver our perfectly healthy, full-term baby alive and they failed in that. 'They’ve failed in listening to us since that, so that’s why we thought we should try and escalate it so that other mothers and parents don’t have to go through the same thing.' Jack, 48, added: 'I would like to be believed and I would like our daughter’s death to be valued.' Laura Hammond – Nottingham Post – 10 January 2018 “Parents of stillborn baby refer case to criminal prosecutors after report finds her death was 'almost certainly preventable'” Comment NottsDave “They are going to need very, very deep pockets to take on the hospital hierarchy. The hospital trust will be throwing unlimited funds (our money) into opposing any legal action. The culture of denial of any culpability in the NHS has got to end, and be replaced by honesty and openness.” David Drew comment – Health Service Journal – 12 January 2018 “Exclusive: Leaked documents reveal bullying and management concerns at trust” “Great exposé of the NHS culture of secrecy and fear that we all keep hearing about but which no trust ever admits to. It is clear that as is usually the case the fish has rotted from the head down. Mercifully, there are good leaders in that trust who have taken personal risks and done the right thing for staff and patients. Pity NHSI tried, as usual, to dodge the issue. Wirral may be an extreme example but this situation is no doubt replicated in a number of other (maybe even many) trusts. That is what lies behind the depressing picture painted year on year by the staff survey. For those of us who for a long time have been asking for a more radical approach to bullying this series of articles will represent at least a possibility that the regulators will now be forced to tackle this insidious, intractable problem which generates widespread misery.” James O’Brien – LBC - 20 December 2017 “NHS Nurse In Floods Of Tears As She Tells James O’Brien: “We Are Broken”” “Sue is a nurse and her daughter is a GP who qualified almost two years ago, but both are struggling in their professions. “We are both tough old birds, we really, really are,” she said as she began to weep. “I had a conversation with my daughter last night and she is broken, she is absolutely broken. “She can’t cope anymore, she’s been two years qualified as a GP and I’ve never heard her like that before. “I know how she feels because we, as nurses, are broken.” James asked what is was that was leading to the stress. “It’s bureaucracy,” Sue continued. “There is an element of bullying, there really is an element of bullying - we’ve got the emperor’s new clothes. “We cannot cope, but the management above us are telling senior management and NHS England everything is fine - it’s not, it’s really, really not.”” Andy Cowper – Health Service Journal - 4 December 2017 “Cowper’s Cut: The fear, the network and the path” “Fear is a pretty terrible motivation. It’s also ugly mood music. Why does a safety-critical industry such as the NHS – healthcare – have the level of bullying and fear running through it at so many levels?” “I think fear, and bullying, in the NHS has become a network effect among poor managers – and indeed sometimes among poor staff in clinical and non-clinical jobs. Bullies have gone unchallenged and unsacked.” “A culture that has decided that to kiss up and kick down represents an effective management strategy is, to put it mildly, not a healthy culture.” Anonymous comment - "...The NHS has had a culture of bullying for a long time. Nicholson's time was no walk in the park. Bullying gets short term actions completed but it leads to long term problems." Shaun Lintern - Health Service Journal - 30 November 2017 “Lintern's Risk Register: The NHS is a bad employer for too many” “Doctors are not unique in having complaints about how they are treated. Nurse surveys show similar, if not worse, fears over safety and workloads and feeling undervalued.” Matthew Barbour - The Guardian - 29 November 2017 “‘Bullying and being bullied is everywhere now, at every level in the NHS’: Domineering behaviour and sexism have dogged the medical profession, especially among surgeons. Now victims are being taught to fight back” “…a 2015 study revealed that 94% of surgeons had observed unprofessional behaviour, including bullying, among colleagues.. Moreover, it directly impacts on patient welfare”. Rachel Clarke – The Guardian - 12 July 2017 “If no one listens to us, the NHS will face its own Grenfell-style disaster: The government is continuing to ignore medics’ repeated warnings about understaffing. The result will be many more avoidable patient deaths” “…there are disturbing parallels between Grenfell and the state of the NHS. Like the residents of Grenfell Tower, NHS staff have warned repeatedly that the government’s drive to cut costs will end up costing lives. Arguably, this has already happened. Yet ministers continue to ignore our warnings” “I cannot begin to imagine the pain of losing a loved one in Grenfell Tower. But as a frontline NHS doctor, I can identify all too strongly with the frustration of fighting to have your warnings about safety heard. It is not an exaggeration to say that understaffing, unless addressed, may be the NHS’s Grenfell, a disaster waiting to happen.” Shaun Lintern – Health Service Journal – 17 November 2017 “Lintern's Risk Register: Challenge the narrative of inevitable failure” “Professor Souba outlined that staff who believe in the inevitability of harm may dismiss incident reporting and monitoring as unnecessarily time consuming and not their job. They will only begrudgingly make changes that are mandated from above. The result is more of the same. He argued that when staff accept patient safety is everyone’s problem and zero harm is the goal then monitoring, evaluating and learning from errors is something everyone wants to do. It’s a collective challenge and a collective responsibility; learning becomes real and embedded; errors will reduce.” Julie Bailey – Cure the NHS - 7 November 2017 “10 year anniversary: I only hope lessons have been learnt from Mid Staffs” “One recommendation I have consistently proposed is a level playing field when it comes to regulation. We have regulators for nurses and doctors but not managers. It was managers who made most of the decisions that led to the harm of patients at Mid Staffs, yet unaccountable to any regulator” “However we must be honest- an organisation that has whistle blowers is a failing one, as was Mid Staffs. Employees should be able to raise concerns freely within any workplace particularly around safety. We will know when we have the right culture in the NHS when raising concerns from patients and its staff, is welcomed. The failings at Southern Health Foundation Trust recently, lead me to believe that we still have a long way to go. Governors at the hospital tried to speak out but were labelled as trouble makers, just as I was in 2007. Once again it was families who had to raise concerns and battle to be heard.” Laurence Vick - 9 June 2017 “The Loneliness of the NHS Whistleblower” “Where are we now with whistleblowing in our health services?” “I don’t see that a great deal has changed for whistleblowers: a fear of whistleblowing still pervades the NHS. A number of whistleblowers told their stories at the recent Turn Up the Volume conference. Sadly the advice to would-be whistleblowers was simple and stark: only do what is right if you are very strong. Be prepared to be attacked, personally, professionally and legally. Only proceed if you have insurance to cover the legal costs and the time to spend with your lawyer going through the case in great detail. Expect little or no assistance from the regulators, your MP or anyone else. Be aware that your career may be permanently damaged; former colleagues will shun you and you will lose friends”. Henry Bodkin – The Telegraph - 21 October 2017 “Badly-behaved surgeons are putting patients' lives in danger due to 'culture of bullying', report finds” “Trainee surgeons are being assaulted during operations for raising safety concerns as part of an ‘endemic culture of bullying’ that causes patient deaths, the professions leadership has warned. The Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RSCE), which represents members across the UK, said a “visceral” atmosphere of fear among younger surgeons is leading to failures in concentration that directly harms patients. In a new report, the college also warns the profession’s “macho” attitude makes it difficult to challenge bad practice, a culture which enabled disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson to mutilate victims unchecked for two decades. It follows research published in June which found that one in six trainee surgeons are suffering from battlefield-type Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Senior doctors have warned that the bullying culture among surgeons is negatively affecting recruitment, making entry into the discipline less competitive. RSCE is calling for bullies to be removed from their posts and has set up a task force to send into affected hospitals. “The sentencing of surgeon Ian Paterson has once again raised the issue of bullying and undermining in healthcare” – Professor Michael Lavelle-Jones. Dr Alice Hartley, a Newcastle-based registrar who co-chairs the college’s trainee committee, said a senior colleague had flung instruments at her during an operation after she asked a question, a situation she described as “not uncommon”. Dan Bloom - Mirror - 15 October 2017 “NHS chiefs spend £100,000 on failed bid to stop whistleblowing doctor having his day in court” “Dr Chris Day, 32, said his career was “destroyed” after he raised fears over a short-staffed intensive care unit in Woolwich, London” “Dr Day said his performance was questioned and his training number deleted after he said he was the only doctor covering an 18-bed intensive care unit. He told the Mirror: “Rather than dealing with serious safety issues they’ve opted to completely destroy my credibility and my career.”” Sharron Brennon – Health Service Journal – 9 October 2017 “Exclusive: CQC plans rules on 'safe workload' for junior doctors” “Professor Baker took over the post from Professor Sir Mike Richards at the end of August, having previously been his deputy. He said workforce was one of his top priorities, and was “the biggest problem the NHS faces at the moment”. This included the pressure on staff and working culture, he said pointing out that nearly a quarter of NHS staff report feeling bullied at work. This was a “reflection of the culture in the NHS”, he said, and added: “We are losing staff because the cultures they work in are too difficult.” He said the CQC’s work could help shape and improve the culture by looking at leadership and engagement and by encouraging openness and honesty. He said: “It is very clear hierarchical management in the NHS can have negative effects on staff wellbeing, that is something we need to tackle…” Shaun Lintern - Health Service Journal – 20 September 2017 “Exclusive: NHS regulators face scrutiny in new Kirkup inquiry” “Mr and Mrs Dixon said:… “No one cared at all about what we were going through or how their behaviour would wreck our lives or squander the chance of safeguarding another child or adult. We now have an opportunity to change this for other patients and other families. “When harm happens under the NHS, no family should endure a cover up that forces them to relive their child’s death for more than 15 years while the family seek the truth for themselves.” Dr Margaret McCartney - Spectator - 13 February 2017 “The answer to the NHS crisis is treating its staff better” “The rocket fuel of the NHS is the staff…Treat the staff better, and patients will be treated better too” Anonymous comment - Health Service Journal - 8 August 2017 “NHS bullying: too high and too hard to tackle” “As long as the NHS has an elected politician who is focused on getting re-elected or indeed making it through the next cabinet reshuffle I don't believe the culture of bullying will ever change. When decent chief execs can be removed overnight for performance "failure" targets are going to continue to be the blunt instrument to beat the NHS with. We need a serious conversation about how we embed a supportive leadership model and leave the target culture behind once and for all.” Dr Kevin Beatt - Evening Standard - 28 May 2017 “Croydon whistleblowing doctor wins legal battle after sacking for raising safety concerns” "A lot of whistleblowers have lost their case because management have said, like they tried to do with me, ‘you’re a difficult person or you've rolled up late for work and that's why we're going to dismiss you.’ Really the true reason is they're whistleblowers. To battle means, for a lot of people, if they lose the case they lose their house or their mortgage. You are battling against a big institution." Anonymous comment - Health Service Journal - 11 May 2017 7.04 am “Minister orders investigation of trust following nurse's suicide” “Bullying is a huge blight to the NHS and unfortunately disciplinary action is too frequently used as a vehicle for it. The high levels of bullying and is ignored for the sake of the toxic good news culture. We need to change the narrative. It will save individuals lives such as this gentlemen, improve patient care & safety and improve cost efficiency. Tell your story, help change the narrative of silence around bullying in the NHS”. Mark Clewes - Hackney Gazette - 27 April 2017 “John Howard Centre whistleblower says he’s been blacklisted after speaking out on NHS ‘bullying culture” “While the NHS saves lives, it can also destroy them. I have worked in the NHS for 30 years and vast amounts of resources are consumed trumpeting successes and concealing failings, it has become an industry”. “Individuals brave or stupid enough to speak up will be subjected to devastating life changing consequences and the public need to be aware of this and speak out against this”. |