Whistleblowing and bullying

 

The NHS attitude to whistleblowing has never been cause for celebration. Going back to the Stafford Hospitals scandal it’s clear that problems had been endemic for some years, but those few staff who dared to raise concerns found themselves turned on by management, often with the collusion of the GMC. The message was quite clear. Keep your mouth shut.

And bullying of whistleblowers is not the whole story. Bullying is widespread throughout the entire NHS, and a recent report shows that things are not changing.

If you google “NHS bullying” you will find dozens of documents laying out the bullying policies of various Trusts. You might think that these indicate that the problem has been addressed but there is one flaw with that view. These policies and protocols are not worth the paper they were written on.

In the late 2000s a NHS Consultant initiated an industrial tribunal case against a former employer for bullying, harassment and constructive dismissal. The tribunal concluded that the Trust had indeed failed to follow it’s own policies and procedures, but they also stated, astonishingly, that these policies and procedures were “Not contractually binding”. So the guilty Trust won. I wonder how many NHS employees are aware that these policies are totally unenforceable.

And NHS trusts still continue to behave towards employees in a highly questionable manner. We all know now about the appalling behaviour of the Consultant Breast Surgeon Ian Paterson, who was jailed for 20 years for maiming and mutilating many of his patients. Paterson worked until 2007 despite the fact that a surgical colleague raised concerns as early as 2003. The management response was not only to ignore those concerns, but also to move the whistleblower to a different hospital. Paterson was enabled to go on maiming people for a further 4 years by the complacency of the Trust, and also Spire private hospital, where he also worked.

Things have not changed since A J Cronin wrote “The Citadel”