Bullying and safety concerns raised by ‘outstanding’ hospital’s juniors

An inspection of an ‘outstanding’ hospital has revealed concerns about unsafe staffing, as well as bullying and undermining behaviour. 

The then Health Education England issued Frimley Health Foundation Trust 14 mandatory requirements after visiting its Frimley Park Hospital in March to look at training in medical specialties. The risk-based review followed concerns in the 2022 national training survey and previous quality interventions by HEE.

Among the problems HEE was told about were:

• Junior doctors feeling staffing on some shifts was unsafe. Foundation year one doctors were sometimes the only doctors on a ward, while one foundation doctor spent their first weekend on call looking after two wards by themselves.
• Concerns about bullying and undermining behaviour in an unnamed department, and consultant behaviour during weekend handover which left some staff feeling “uncomfortable”.

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Source: HSJ, 11 July 2023