Ockendon Report 30 March 2022 – Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust – Review of maternity services5/1/2022 Yet again I despair. Yet more tragedy and harm to babies and families in the NHS. The words failure and failed are repeated many times throughout the report. The failures are described as ‘systemic’.
‘The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is about an NHS maternity service that failed. It failed to investigate, failed to learn and failed to improve and therefore often failed to safeguard mothers and their babies at one of the most important times in their lives.’ (p.i). There is evidence of bullying and dysfunctional behaviours and a culture of fear; the fear of speaking out. There were failures in ‘governance and leadership’ (p.x). ‘The Trust consistently demonstrated negative behaviours and practices, resulting in many staff learning to accept poor standards as it became the cultural norm; this constitutes organisational abuse’ (p.66). ‘…staff members described a ‘clique’ on the labour ward at the Trust with a culture of undermining and bullying…Many staff members told the review team of the fear of speaking out within maternity services. This included those who are currently working in maternity services at the Trust.’ (p.184). ‘It is imperative to ensure the ‘culture’ within all healthcare settings is one that promotes openness, transparency and the psychological safety to escalate concerns. Yet the review team found evidence of disempowerment, with staff encouraged not to complain or raise awareness of poor practice within both personal and professional capacities.’ (p.66) Sadly none of these behaviours are new to the NHS and as many commentators have identified many other reports have highlighted failures and cultural problems – e.g. Gosport, Mid Staffs, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Alder Hey, Morecombe Bay, East Kent, Nottingham and the contaminated blood scandal with the current inquiry underway. Stephen Glover writes in the Daily Mail that ‘Until we admit that there is something rotten at [the] heart of the NHS, these scandals will never stop’. ‘The evidence is overwhelming. It is also deeply shaming.’ (31 Mar 22). ‘This is possibly the biggest scandal of all — the pretence by politicians of all parties that 'our cherished NHS' offers unparalleled service’. ‘…with the NHS we are all-forgiving. We are in the grip of a collective delusion. A fantasy, even...many of us — believe that the NHS is wonderful and unique. It is the envy of the world (it's not, of course). We close our eyes and block our ears.’ Canon Angela Tilby on Thought for the Day (31 Mar 22) also made reference to the multiple reports detailing ‘…there is something wrong with the culture of our much loved NHS’. ‘Two years ago we were clapping for carers at the start of the Covid crisis, yet I remember wondering then , even as I joined in whether we weren’t engaged in some curious ritual in which we were suppliants bringing our tribute of praise and prayer, as to a deity. It’s been said before that the NHS is the nearest thing we have to a national religion. Perhaps we haven’t recognised how that distorts our relationship with it’ Allison Pearson in the Telegraph writes that the maternity report ‘proves the NHS is not a national treasure – it’s a national disgrace…Contrary to its humanitarian branding, the NHS is a Stalinist organisation with a culture of institutionalised bullying’. There is an ‘abusive, co-dependent relationship with the bullying, sometimes downright dangerous NHS’ (29 Mar 22). Very sadly, I agree with Stephen there is something rotten about the NHS, with Angela that we suffer from a distorted societal relationship, and Allison is correct, there is a ‘culture of institutionalised bullying’. The NHS does have Stalinist characteristics. I believe we are suffering from a collective societal delusion that results in some very dysfunctional and destructive behaviour which blocks improvement. Stephen Glover asks ‘…will we ever wake up? He believes the NHS is regarded as untouchable. In 2015 in my PhD thesis (p.219) I wrote the following: ‘Currently, the researcher has little optimism regarding the possibilities of bringing about change; such is the engrained nature of the problems over many years and the overall political control. The NHS may just continue to crash from one disaster to another. Tragically, it may be that the NHS will require further disasters to shock it into more serious focused action. “A common form of shock is media exposure. Significant negative exposure creates a socially undesirable image, often galvanising change” (Ashforth and Anand, 2003, p.38). It requires a significant organisational effort to remove normalised corruption.’…The NHS does seem to be very “deaf” and extremely resistant to cultural change.’ One participant said the NHS “Needs a complete wipe-out. Take everybody out and put them back in again. Retrain the managers. Need to have people in the caring system who care. Taking the bureaucracy out of the care system. It is plagued by bureaucracy...Whole of system is flawed. Lost in politics”. Another said it “Would have to be something gigantic...to break the culture”. Another said “I think to eradicate this endemic culture in the NHS is a fantasy! It will never happen until another generation!”’ In contrast, relating to the BRI inquiry and what they saw as “Kennedy’s fundamental errors” a further person had a very different view. “That cultures take a long time to change - they don't; true leaders can change them overnight. Evidence of it every day”. Sadly, the NHS has had multiple shocks from the media, but it has not responded appropriately. I wonder how many times the NHS has to be shamed before it takes the issue of positive cultural change seriously. Let’s hope that the person who had optimism and hope about the possibility of change taking place is right. I ever have to hope!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |