Staff left “vulnerable” after concerns “ignored” by trust leadership

A culture in which staff felt “done to” and not able to raise concerns safely to a disconnected leadership have all contributed to “a longstanding sense of dissatisfaction” and “continuing” fears over care quality at one of the NHS’s largest teaching trusts, an NHS England review has discovered.

The review was undertaken by NHSE’s Maternity Safety Support Programme into care delivered by Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. Its publication comes a month after the Care Quality Commission downgraded maternity services at Leeds General Infirmary and St James University Hospital from “good” to “inadequate”.

The publication of the NHSE review in the trust’s board papers led to the trust chief executive Phil Wood to write to the organisation’s 20,000 staff, warning them that it and another investigation into the organisation’s paediatric congenital cardiac service would prove “challenging”.

The report describes the culture at LTH as “challenging” and exhibiting “a degree of negativity”. It was not viewed as “supportive”, and a “lack of communication” was a common theme. Many staff felt “they were ‘being done to’”.

The combination of these factors “led to escalation fatigue from the staff as they did not feel that their safety concerns were responded to in a productive and supportive way”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 July 2025