Summary
On 24 August 2022, the Employment Tribunal found that Mr Shyam Kumar, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon employed at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMB), had been disengaged from his role as a Specialist Advisor within the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on account of having made “protected disclosures” to the CQC. This means he had raised concerns with CQC about the health of patients and other important issues and had done so in the public interest. The Employment Tribunal found that the fact that he had raised these various concerns with CQC had materially influenced its decision to disengage him. It awarded him £23,000 in damages for injury to feelings, on account of what it described as “the inevitable impact” of CQC’s actions upon Mr Kumar’s reputation among his peers and the shock, confusion and concern it caused to him.
The CQC has accepted these findings and apologised to Mr Kumar. CQC’s Chief Executive, Ian Trenholm, issued a public statement on 6 September 2022 about what occurred, including a recognition of the importance of the concerns Mr Kumar raised, the importance of the information raised by staff and the public generally, and the “vital role” played by Specialist Advisors in CQC’s inspections.
Following this, Zoe Leventhal KC was appointed by CQC’s Executive Board to carry out an independent review into whether CQC took appropriate action as a regulator in response to the protected disclosures that Mr Kumar made, and whether it dealt appropriately with a sample of other instances where concerns have been raised with CQC.
Content
These documents make up the report from phase 1 of our review into how well CQC listen and respond when people share concerns with them.
Phase 1 was an independent review which Zoë Leventhal KC was appointed to lead. This looks into the handling of protected disclosures shared by Mr Kumar, alongside a sample of other information of concern shared with us by health and care staff.
See also Listening, learning, responding to concerns (phase 2).
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment