Staff at care scandal trust have ‘little left to give’ as spending controls bite

Staff at a scandal-hit trust feel “undervalued and without any autonomy” due to newly imposed financial controls, according to internal emails.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust employees have told executives they have “little left to give” due to what CEO Ifti Magid called the “top-downism” of spending restrictions, according to an all-employee message.

The trust was criticised by the care watchdog earlier this year for a “series of errors, omissions, and misjudgements” in the case of Valdo Calocane, a patient with paranoid schizophrenia who killed three people in Nottingham last year.

In a message to staff sent this month and seen by HSJ, Dr Susan Elcock, deputy CEO and executive medical director, said: “It’s incredibly tough at the moment without any shadow of doubt and many colleagues have expressed feeling that they have very little left to give.

The email added: “…I have heard from a few colleagues about what a small act of kindness can do to help.”

“This then feels at real odds with how it is feeling being on the end of many restrictions and controls that have been put in place and are either being tightened or further restrictions added.

“In many instances, colleagues have fed back that this “top downism” that Ifti has coined the phrase of, leaves you feeling unvalued and without any autonomy.”

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Source: HSJ, 22 October 2024