NHS staff too afraid to report bully ing
‘Concerns about confidentiality’
HEALTH workers and patients are too scared to speak out about bullying, harassment and care standards, according to a report.
As a powerful Holyrood committee demands a drastic overhaul of NHS culture, more than a third of health service workers say they fear complaining as they could be ‘blacklisted’ or face legal action.
A probe into Scotland’s ‘targetdriven’ health service has found staff are under growing pressure, while mistakes are often overlooked amid fears that those reporting errors could be blamed.
Yesterday, Holyrood’s Health and Sport Committee published a report demanding an overhaul of the culture in the NHS – and said bosses must create a more ‘transparent’ system which allows both patients and staff to raise concerns. Convenor Lewis Macdonald warned that ‘significant measures’ are needed to boost patient and staff confidence in complaints procedures.
The report states it is ‘concerning’ that a majority of staff do not have confidence in the NHS, with complaints about ‘unacceptable’ behaviour going unreported.
It states: ‘Bullying, discrimination and harassment in the workplace are unacceptable. NHS staff must feel confident to raise concerns regarding colleagues’ behaviour and treatment towards them.
‘It is concerning that of those who experience these issues, only a minority feel confident to raise them.’
The report warns that staff often worry about raising problems over ‘a belief that nothing would happen as a result, concern with what would happen if it was reported, and concerns about confidentiality’. The findings also show that staff are even concerned about reporting malpractice or errors in treatment because they do not want to be blamed.
Dr Gordon McDavid, of the Medical Protection Society Scotland, told the committee members are ‘scared to what will happen if they speak up or are honest when something goes wrong. Will they be sued?’
Committee witnesses said they feared being ‘blacklisted’ if they raised issues, or act as whistleblowers – although NHS chiefs ‘refuted’ claims of such boycotts.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘The report shows vast differences between how our health services are run and how they should be run.
‘The need for clear leadership to deliver health improvement and the sharing of best practices is obvious, but is not being achieved.
‘After 11 years of SNP control, staff have felt unable to speak out about professional problems and patients are kept out of the loop when decisions are being taken about their care or when things go wrong.’
The report also raised concerns about the ‘target-driven’ culture.
It states: ‘Witnesses commented there was pressure to meet targets.
‘Some suggested a target-driven culture resulted in innovative suggestions or concerns raised by staff being set aside as this was not the focus of their work.’
Mr Macdonald said: ‘While there are checks and procedures in place, on occasion, things go wrong. It is important these can be quickly identified and not repeated.’
The Scottish Government said: ‘We have already taken steps, alongside the BMA, to introduce new legally binding protections for doctors in training and other postgraduate trainees who are whistleblowers.
‘We are also working to have the new role of Independent National Whistleblowing Officer in place as soon as possible.’