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Found 247 results
  1. News Article
    A hospital trust has dismissed three members of staff following complaints of sexual harassment. The sackings by University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust were revealed at the launch of its sexual safety charter on Monday. Sexual safety was one of the areas highlighted in a review of the trust's culture. UHB said sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment would not be tolerated in the workplace. The trust has been subject to three enquiries following a BBC investigation into its culture. The second of these investigations, by Prof Mike Bewick, identified a new line of inquiry into allegations of misogynistic behaviour and sexual harassment. Prof Bewick said the trust had begun formal investigations and there was a widening of the scope of the enquiry to accommodate the sensitive nature of these concerns. Read full story Source: BBC News, 19 October 2023
  2. News Article
    The deputy leader of a trust rated ‘inadequate’ by a health watchdog four times in the past decade has admitted the necessary changes to its culture may take a further four years. Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust staved off calls to break it up earlier this year after the Care Quality Commission raised its rating from “inadequate” to “requires improvement”. However, it has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after a review found it lost track of patient deaths, and a subsequent BBC Newsnight investigation discovered the report was edited to remove criticism of its leadership. The BBC found earlier drafts removed references to a “culture of fear” highlighted by some staff. Now deputy CEO Cath Byford has addressed growing concerns about the morale of staff working at the organisation, and their ability to speak up, at a meeting of Norfolk County Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee. During the meeting, she revealed the results of an anonymous survey which received 18,000 staff interactions. Most feedback was “not positive” admitted Ms Byford. She said many staff reported bullying and harassment, unfairness, inequality, and nepotism. This was particularly the case in recruitment, with staff feeling jobs were being lined up for certain individuals. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 September 2023
  3. News Article
    Senior doctors say female medics have felt pressured into sexual activity with colleagues. Four women who head up medical royal colleges in Wales have written an open letter describing misogyny, bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace. They told BBC Wales that female staff had been asked for sex by male colleagues while on shift. The Welsh government said: "Harassment and sexual violence is abhorrent and has no place in our NHS." Chairwoman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales, Dr Maria Atkins, said: "I've heard from multiple women over the years that during night-time shifts, they've been propositioned by male colleagues and felt pressured to engage in sexual acts. "When they've refused they are penalised. "It can be very damaging to some less experienced or younger women, because they will be discouraged from engaging with a team, which might have been the specialty of medicine that they wanted to progress their career in." Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 September 2023
  4. News Article
    More than half of staff at a hospital trust that has been under fire for its "toxic culture" have said they felt bullied or harassed. The findings come from an independent review commissioned by University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust. It has been at the centre of NHS scrutiny after a culture of fear was uncovered in a BBC Newsnight investigation. UHB has apologised for "unacceptable behaviours". It added it was committed to changing the working environment. Of 2,884 respondents to a staff survey, 53% said they had felt bullied or harassed at work, while only 16% believed their concerns would be taken up by their employer. Many said they were fearful to complain "as they believed it could worsen the situation," the review team found. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 September 2023
  5. Content Article
    The Culture Review report was published following an independent external review of the organisational culture at University Hospitals Birmingham Trust. The external review was carried out by consultancy firm The Value Circle following a series of investigations into problems at University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust over the last year.
  6. News Article
    An ambulance trust has been accused of acting like a “criminal gang” and lying to dead patients’ families by an employee who repeatedly warned about paramedics’ mistakes being covered up. Paul Calvert, a coroner’s officer whose job was to produce reports on deaths, tried to raise concerns about managers at the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) for three years before walking out last year on the verge of a breakdown. “My life was being made a misery,” said Calvert, who was previously a detective with Northumbria police. “They were basically like a criminal gang. I had tried everything I could to warn the proper authorities about how the service was destroying and concealing evidence meant for the coroner. I spoke to my managers, to human resources, to external auditors. I even made disclosures to the Care Quality Commission and Northumbria police. Nothing was done about it.” Despite their denials of a large-scale cover-up of mistakes, the NEAS this year offered Calvert £41,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement it asked him to sign. One of the clauses meant destroying all the evidence he had collected. Another tried to stop him making any further disclosures to police. Reports and witness statements from ambulance staff were not being disclosed to the coroner “on a daily basis”, according to Calvert, amounting to key pieces of evidence relating to deaths being hidden from the public. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 29 May 2022
  7. News Article
    Junior doctors have been prevented from returning to scandal hit heart surgery unit previously criticised over “toxic” culture, The Independent has learned. A coroner defended cardiac surgery at St George’s University Hospital, criticising an NHS-commissioned review into 67 deaths that warned of poor care. However, The Independent has learned the unit received a critical report from Health Education England (HEE), the body responsible for healthcare training, just last year. The NHS authority was so concerned about culture problems and “inappropriate behaviour” within the unit that it took away the junior doctors working there. This is the third time HEE has intervened since 2018, when the unit was criticised in an independent review for having a “toxic” culture. In a statement, Professor Geeta Menon, postgraduate dean for South London at Health Education England, said: “HEE carried out a review of cardiac surgery at St George’s University Hospital in July 2021 and concluded that further improvements were required to create a suitable learning environment for doctors in training. "Unfounded’ NHS criticism and investigation caused unnecessary deaths at London heart surgery unit “We continue to work closely with the trust to implement our requirements and recommendations and will reassess their progress this summer. HEE is committed to ensuring high quality patient care and the best possible learning environment for postgraduate doctors at St George’s.” The Independent understands that a report issued in December, following the HEE visit, identified problems of “inappropriate behaviour”, poor team working from consultants and raised concerns the culture problems previously identified at the unit persisted. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 May 2022
  8. News Article
    A former medical director on the Isle of Man, who lost her job when she questioned decisions made on the island during the COVID-19 pandemic, has won her case for unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal. The hearing, which began in January, heard how Dr Rosalind Ranson was victimised and dismissed from her role after making 'protected disclosures' as part of her efforts to persuade the Manx Government to deviate from Public Health England (PHE) advice in the early stages of the pandemic. Dr Ranson, who had extensive experience as a GP and as a senior medical leader in the NHS in England, was appointed to her post as the island's most senior doctor in January 2020 with the aim of tackling what she identified as a disillusioned medical workforce, failings in management, and a bullying culture. She was soon called on to provide expert medical advice and guidance on how the Isle of Man’s health system should respond to the spread of COVID-19. In March, Dr Ranson channelled concerns from the island's doctors that the advice from PHE was flawed, and that a more robust approach should be taken to stem the spread of SARS-CoV-2. That included closing the island’s borders – a move that was initially ignored. Dr Ranson became concerned that her medical advice was not being heeded and that it might not be being passed on to ministers by the then Chief Executive of the Isle of Man’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Kathryn Magson, who was not medically qualified. The tribunal heard that because Dr Ranson had "blown the whistle" when she spoke out, she was sidelined and eventually dismissed unfairly. Read full story Source: Medscape, 11 May 2022
  9. News Article
    The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has expressed its support for the Whistleblowing Bill launched in Parliament last week, with its first reading in the House of Commons by Mary Robinson MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Whistleblowing. DAUK urged people to tweet their MP to show their support for the Bill. DAUK Chair Dr Jenny Vaughan said: "Healthcare staff need to be able raise patient safety issues all of the time. We’re trained to do that, expect it, point this out as best we can. But sometimes poor safety arises because of the way we are told to work. Then, it can be just as hard for staff to speak up as it is for anyone else, because we can also be threatened, sanctioned, isolated, ignored and bullied. "Blowing the whistle for us means saving lives, in the end. But we stand to lose as much as anyone. DAUK has supported many doctors who have been made to suffer because they spoke out, and there are many more who feel they should but are afraid to. That is why this Bill is so important. For all staff within healthcare. And most of all, for patients - the public. Stopping the greater harm for the greater good.” The most important changes in the private members bill, led by Baroness Kramer would: Require disclosures to be acted upon and whistleblowers protected. Provide criminal and civil penalties for organisations and individuals failing to do so. Establish a fully independent parliamentary body on whistleblowing, and provide easy access to redress. Read full story Source: Medscape UK, 26 April 2022
  10. News Article
    New responsibilities for doctors regarding their use of social media and tackling toxic workplace behaviours and sexual harassment are among key proposals in the General Medical Council’s (GMC) planned update to its core ethical guidance. The regulator has launched a 12-week consultation on the draft new content of 'Good medical practice', which outlines the professional values, knowledge and behaviours expected of doctors working in the UK. This represents the first major update of the guidance since it first came into effect in April 2013, with the review process launched last year. The GMC said the draft new update follows months of working with doctor, employer, and patient representatives, as well as other stakeholders, and reflects the issues faced in modern-day healthcare workplaces. Included for the first time in the draft new guidance is a duty for doctors to act, or support others to act, if they become aware of workplace bullying, harassment, or discrimination, as well as zero tolerance of sexual harassment. For the first time, the GMC's ethical guidance proposes 12 commitments, including: Make the care of patients my first concern. Demonstrate leadership within my role, and work with others to make healthcare environments more supportive, inclusive, and fair. Provide a good standard of practice and care, and be honest and open when things go wrong. Ensure my conduct justifies my patients’ trust in me and the public's trust in my profession. Read full story Source: Medscape, 27 April 2022
  11. News Article
    A trust board has backed the medical director who oversaw the dismissal of a whistleblower in a case linked to patient deaths. Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust told HSJ John Knighton had the full support of the organisation when asked if he faced any censure over the wrongful dismissal of a consultant who raised the alarm about a surgical technique. Jasna Macanovic last month won her employment tribunal against the trust with the judge calling its conduct “very one-sided, reflecting a determination to remove [her] as the source of the problem”. The judgment found that the disciplinary process Dr Knighton oversaw was “a foregone conclusion” and as such had broken employment rules. The nephrologist was twice offered the opportunity to resign with a good reference, once during her disciplinary hearing and again on the day the outcome of that hearing was delivered. The trust told HSJ nothing in the judgment suggested Dr Knighton should face any action about his conduct and none had been taken. It said there were no reasons to doubt his credibility or probity. The trust did not respond when asked if any apology had been offered to Dr Macanovic. A spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting colleagues raising concerns, so they are treated fairly with compassion and respect.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 April 2022
  12. News Article
    Criticism of NHS managers over the treatment of whistleblowers has been reignited by Donna Ockenden’s damning review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust. Her findings come seven years after the “Freedom to speak up?” report from Sir Robert Francis QC, which found that NHS staff feared repercussions if they blew the whistle on poor practice. He recommended reforms to change the culture and support whistleblowers. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 makes it unlawful to subject workers to negative treatment or dismiss them because they have raised a whistleblowing concern, known as a “protected disclosure”. But critics say little has changed since the Francis review. According to Protect, a whistleblowing charity, 64% of those contacting it for advice said that they had been victimised, dismissed or forced to resign. Shazia Khan, founding partner at Cole Khan Solicitors, says that instead of being afforded protection, whistleblowers are “targeted as a form of retaliation by trust senior management and disciplined on trumped up charges to shut them down”. Those seeking to vindicate their rights before an employment tribunal, Khan adds, will often be “priced out of justice” by well-resourced NHS trust lawyers who at public expense “deploy a menu of tactics” to defend cases. When Peter Duffy, a consultant urologist at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation NHS Trust, reported on allegedly unsafe practices by colleagues in 2016, he was demoted, falsely accused of financial irregularities, and threatened with a six-figure adverse costs order by Capsticks, the hospital’s law firm. “All my witnesses dropped out after the medical hierarchy told them that the department might be dissolved if the case went badly,” Duffy says, which meant there was no one to rebut the trust’s evidence. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 7 April 2022
  13. News Article
    Doctors at an acute trust believe their clinical leaders have failed to tackle the ‘big personalities’ accused of being aggressive bullies, a review has found. The probe at University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust was prompted by a survey carried out last year by the British Associations of Physicians of Indian Origin, after concerns were raised by its members. The review was undertaken by Birmingham-based equalities charity Brap, and Roger Kline, a research fellow at Middlesex University Business School. It found the trust was not an outlier in statistical measures of bullying and harassment, but suggested the situation was still worse than leaders would wish. They said: “The most common reason people cited for bullying/harassment they experienced was the personality, attitude, and disposition of their managers and colleagues… it is felt senior clinical leaders have, in the past, failed to tackle these ‘big personalities’. “It is worth noting feedback from interviews suggesting many doctors feel they have endured poor behaviour – talking over people during meetings, criticising work in public, aggressive questioning – for years, and have simply become inured to it. The reviewers found that as a consequence, certain people within the organisation were perceived to be “bullet proof”, and added: “We would suggest the trust needs a big, long-term plan to ‘rehumanise’ the organisation. “The trust’s existing culture has permitted, and continues to permit infringements in behaviour… While this is not condoned by senior leaders in the trust, the lack of a plan to proactively tackle a legacy of overlooking poor behaviours has allowed them to persist.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 April 2022
  14. News Article
    ‘Horrifying and upsetting’ reports of bullying in prestigious heart units are being probed by national officials and professional leaders, HSJ can reveal. Health Education England told HSJ it was “undertaking a national thematic review of training in cardiothoracic surgery”, while the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery separately revealed it was investigating concerns about “bullying, harassment and undermining behaviour” in the specialty following high-profile recent cases in Newcastle and Wales. Society president consultant surgeon Simon Kendall, who is based at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, told HSJ he has been made aware of wider problems beyond those identified in the North East and Wales. Mr Kendall revealed allegations reported to the society have included people being shouted at in public, problems resulting from a “legacy culture of sarcasm and public humiliation”, and more personal disputes between individuals. The consultant surgeon told HSJ: “The job is hard enough for all of us, without picking on each other and making it worse." He added: “It’s the extended team that is affected by these behaviours and it will have an impact on patient safety and patient care. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 April 2022
  15. News Article
    The children’s inpatient unit at an ‘outstanding’ mental health trust has been downgraded to ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), amid a surge in demand for its services. The CQC previously rated child and adolescent mental health wards at Hertfordshire Partnership University Foundation Trust as “outstanding” in May 2019. But after an inspection in November and December 2021, these services were downgraded to “inadequate” overall and for the key categories of safety and leadership. Although inspecting a core service, the CQC said its visit was “not wide-ranging enough” to update overall trust ratings, so HPFT remains “outstanding” overall. Teenagers aged from 13 to 18 and admitted to Forest House, a 16-bed unit in Radlett providing HPFT’s only inpatient service for children and adolescents, told CQC inspectors they felt “unsafe”, dissatisfied with their care, and had experienced bullying by fellow patients. Leadership in the service had “significantly deteriorated” since previous inspections, CQC chiefs wrote in a report published today, and this was having a “knock-on effect in all areas of care being provided”. Staff morale was low and access to clinical psychologists limited, with a reduced ability to provide therapeutic interventions, inspectors added. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 March 2022
  16. News Article
    Burnout is not a strong enough term to describe the severe mental distress nurses and other NHS staff are experiencing, says a doctor who has led efforts to improve care for health professionals. Medical director of the NHS Practitioner Health service Dame Clare Gerada told MPs radical action was needed to improve the mental well-being of NHS staff. She said nurses and other healthcare staff should be entitled to one hour of paid reflective time per month to be written into NHS employees’ contracts, alongside mentoring, careers advice and leadership training built in throughout people’s careers. Dr Gerada was among senior clinicians who gave evidence this week to the Health and Social Care Committee, which is looking at issues around recruitment and retention of staff. She told the committee the term ‘burnout’ simply did not cover the level of stress and mental anguish experienced by NHS workers. ‘Burnout is too gentle a term for the mental distress that is going on amongst our workforce,’ she said. High suicide rates among nurses and doctors, high levels of bullying and staff being sacked because they have long-COVID are all signs the health service is failing to look after its employees, she said. ‘The symptoms we have got are the symptoms of an organisation that is unable to care for its workforce in the way that it should be caring,’ she said. Read full story Source: Nursing Standard, 25 March 2022
  17. News Article
    NHS England is trying to force a prestigious cancer trust to publicly apologise to a group of whistleblowers, after being ‘shocked’ by the way it responded to a review into their concerns. As HSJ reported in January, an external review into The Christie Foundation Trust supported multiple concerns which had been raised by staff about a major research project with pharma giant Roche. The review had also noted how 20 current and former employees, some of whom were “long-standing, loyal, senior staff”, had described bullying behaviours and felt they had suffered detriment because they spoke out. In response to the review, trust chair Christine Outram and chief executive Roger Spencer issued a bullish report listing numerous “inaccuracies” and characterised the concerns as being limited to a “small number of staff who are dissatisfied or aggrieved”. It did not thank the staff for raising the issues, nor apologise for the experiences they had. However, HSJ has now learned that NHSE is trying to ensure the trust issues a public apology. At a meeting with some of the whistleblowers on 11 February, David Levy, medical director for NHSE North West, said he was “shocked” and “frankly a bit angry” at the trust’s response, saying it reflected badly on the organisation, HSJ understands. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 March 2022
  18. News Article
    NHS England wants lessons learned by a trust overhauling its culture after a high-profile bullying scandal to be shared systemwide because similar problems have been evident at other trusts, the hospital’s boss has said. West Suffolk Foundation Trust interim chief executive Craig Black said the trust was getting national level “support” to help with a cultural overhaul after a scathing independent review published in December concluded the trust’s hunt for a whistleblower had been “intimidating… flawed, and not fit for purpose”. Mr Black said he thought NHSE would be “looking to learn from what we are doing” because senior managers viewed concerns raised in the West Suffolk review as having ”resonance with a number of organisations in the NHS at the moment”. As well as the specific “witch hunt” case, the review raises wider issues about how trusts respond to whistleblowing and other concerns about care and patient safety. West Suffolk’s executive director of workforce and communications Jeremy Over told the meeting the cultural change required was “organisational development which will take time, significant time”. The report, West Suffolk Review – organisational development plan, sets out nine broad themes of work, linked to the trust’s core functions, “that capture the priority areas for organisational and cultural development at WSFT in light of the learnings from the report”. The document sets out how the trust’s governance, freedom to speak up, HR, staff voice, patient safety and other parts of its corporate infrastructure failed and contributed to a scandal. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 March 2022
  19. News Article
    A former consultant gynaecologist has told how he raised concerns over bullying, unsafe practices and a "dysfunctional culture" ahead of a report into a maternity scandal. Bernie Bentick, who worked at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (Sath) for almost 30 years, has spoken publicly about maternity care at the trust for the first time. Sath is at the centre of the largest inquiry in the history of the NHS into maternity care, which is expected to report next month. An official investigation is examining the care that 1,862 families received. Mr Bentick says he told senior management several times about a deteriorating culture at Sath. “I was increasingly concerned about the level of bullying, of dysfunctional culture, of the imposition of changes in clinical practice that many clinicians felt was unsafe," Mr Bentick told BBC's Panorama. "If the resources had been made available to employ adequate numbers, to provide safe levels of care in accordance with national guidelines, then the situation may have been profoundly different.” Mr Bentick went on to say that though some “cursory” investigations were launched into his complaints, he believed the trust responded in a way that tried to “preserve the reputation of the organisation.” Read full story Source: Shropshire Star, 23 February 2022
  20. News Article
    Female surgeons say they are being sexually harassed, assaulted and in some cases raped by colleagues, a major analysis of NHS staff has found. The Royal College of Surgeons said the findings were "truly shocking". Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape have been referred to as surgery's open secret. There is an untold story of women being fondled inside their scrubs, of male surgeons wiping their brow on their breasts and men rubbing erections against female staff. Some have been offered career opportunities for sex. Nearly two-thirds of women surgeons that responded to the researchers said they had been the target of sexual harassment and a third had been sexually assaulted by colleagues in the past five years. Women say they fear reporting incidents will damage their careers and they lack confidence the NHS will take action. It is widely accepted there is a culture of silence around such behaviour. Surgical training relies on learning from senior colleagues in the operating theatre and women have told us it is risky to speak out about those who have power and influence over their future careers. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 September 2023 Related reading on the hub: Breaking the silence: Addressing sexual misconduct in healthcare Calling out the sexist and misogynist culture within healthcare: a blog by Dr Chelcie Jewitt, co-founder of the Surviving in Scrubs campaign GMC's Good medical practice 2024
  21. News Article
    Former commissioning chiefs have been accused of presiding over a ‘culture of bullying’ at the predecessor organisation to Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, as part of a legal claim from a former employee. The accusations, which have been made in an employment tribunal case, relate to former chief executive Melanie Craig and other former executives at what was then Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group. Ms Craig now leads Suffolk Community Foundation, a local voluntary sector organisation. The claims have been made by a former long-standing assistant director for mental health services, Clive Rennie, who has claimed unfair dismissal. However, the integrated care board said it disputes the claims and is defending the case. In a witness statement to the tribunal, which began this week, Mr Rennie alleges there was an “authoritarian and dictatorial style of management” and described a “culture of bullying and misuse of power that had emerged under the leadership of Melanie Craig and which included the executive team”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 September 2023
  22. News Article
    Teens who have been bullied by their peers, or who have considered or attempted suicide, may be more likely to have more frequent headaches than teens who have not experienced any of these problems, according to a study published in the August 2, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that bullying or thoughts of suicide cause headaches; it only shows an association. “Headaches are a common problem for teenagers, but our study looked beyond the biological factors to also consider the psychological and social factors that are associated with headaches,” said study author Serena L. Orr, MD, MSc, of the University of Calgary in Canada. “Our findings suggest that bullying and attempting or considering suicide may be linked to frequent headaches in teenagers, independent of mood and anxiety disorders.” The study involved more than 2.2 million teens with an average age of 14 years. Read the full article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/997216
  23. News Article
    A former breast cancer surgeon has said the NHS needs a MeToo movement because of sexual harassment in hospitals. Dr Liz O'Riordan said she experienced sexual harassment from colleagues on a weekly to monthly basis in some of her jobs as a junior doctor. In her first week as a junior doctor, she recalled a colleague asking if she "got an erection" after removing an 11-year-old boy's appendix. "We need to be able to say this is not good enough," said Dr O'Riordan. "When you are a trainee in a practical field, you are relying on your boss to let you operate to show you how to cut; it is a craft that you learn." "Basically you are naked in scrubs stood from shoulder, to hip, to knee, next to someone all squeezed in; a lot of body contact; you are relying on them to let you cut, and if you call them out they may say 'I don't like you, you are not coming to theatre today'. "It's very, very, very hard to stand up for yourself and say 'that is not on' and the minute you let them get away with it, it is accepted and they can carry on getting away with it." Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 July 2023 Related reading on the hub: Under the knife: Life Lessons from the operating theatre by Liz O’Riordan Calling out the sexist and misogynist culture within healthcare: a blog by Dr Chelcie Jewitt, co-founder of the Surviving in Scrubs campaign
  24. News Article
    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”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 11 July 2023
  25. News Article
    A major teaching trust is dominated by a “medical patriarchy”, while “misogynistic behaviour” is a regular occurrence, two investigations have discovered. Two reports into University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust have been published. They are the outcome of an investigation into the trust’s leadership carried out by NHS England, and an oversight review by former NHSE deputy medical director Mike Bewick. They follow major concerns being raised over recent months about safety, culture, and leadership at the trust. The NHSE review said the trust “could do more to balance the medical patriarchy that dominates” the organisation. It noted consultants are invited to observe a chief executive’s advisory group meeting, but nursing, midwifery and allied health professional leaders are not.” On culture, NHSE said the trust should take steps to ensure staff can work in psychologically safe environments where “poor behaviours are consistently addressed” and to “eradicate bullying and cronyism at all levels of the organisation”. Staff had described “inequity and cronyism” being a feature of recruitment processes at all levels. Read full story (paywalled)
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