Kentish Express Ashford & District
REPORT REVEALS CULTURE OF BULLYING AND HARRASSMENT
While the CQC report was generally complimentary about the care provided by frontline staff, it referred to a disconnect between the board and the ward.
It was very critical of the management of the hospitals, and spoke of a culture of “bullying and harrassment” with some staff feeling as though their concerns were not taken seriously.
Mr Bain said to address this, he had been holding regular meetings with staff at all three hospitals since the report was published last month.
He said: “I accept what has been said in the report. But sometimes, we can’t do the things staff would like to be done for reasons including the way the health service is run.”
Mr Bain insisted staff were listened to, but accepted that his leadership team needed to be better at communicating with them.
He added: “We need to be more clear with people about why certain things can’t happen. I think we probably hear more of people’s suggestions than they realise, but we’re not very good at feeding back.”
This week, the Royal College of Nursing said it hoped Monitor’s decision would serve as a wake-up call for the trust.
Sarah Dodsworth from the south east branch of the RCN said: “We are very disappointed but not surprised that the trust has been placed in special measures as we have been raising the very same issues with the trust for quite a while.
“We appreciate staff have been working very hard in what has been a very difficult situation, especially with reports of bullying, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients.
“Hopefully the trust can make the significant progress needed to turn this around and we will do all that we can to help the trust to come out of special measures as soon as possible.”