Scandal-hit hospital bosses still in the NHS
Two hospital bosses at the centre of a Mid Staffordshire-style care scandal are still working for the NHS. A review of Liverpool Community Health found patients suffered “unnecessary harm” after managers attempted to cut costs by 15 per cent in a year. In an echo of the Mid Staffs scandal, the trust set out to achieve foundation status by setting “infeasible financial targets”. Ministers will today announce plans to ban NHS managers involved in care scandals from working in the health service.
TWO hospital bosses at the centre of a Mid-staffordshire-style care scandal in which patients suffered “unnecessary harm” are still working for the NHS.
A review of Liverpool Community Health found that patients suffered “significant unnecessary harm” after managers tried to cut costs by 15 per cent in a single year.
The report by NHS Improvement found that the leadership team was “dysfunctional” and “out of its depth”.
Bernie Cuthel, the chief executive at the time, resigned after the failings were exposed, but is now working in mental health for a Welsh NHS body. Frances Molloy, the former chairman, is now the chief executive of a health consultancy that has contracts with the NHS.
The report states that the board tried to “conceal” the problems. It also found that staff who raised concerns were “bullied and harassed” and some were suspended without explanation.
Ministers will today announce plans to ban NHS managers involved in care scandals from working in the health service again, either directly or for private companies with NHS contracts.
Stephen Barclay, a health minister, will announce a review of the “fit and proper persons test”, which was brought in after the Mid-staffs scandal. The report by Dr Bill Kirkup said that the chief executive and the chairman of the Liverpool health authority were both in “denial”. Only one member of the board cooperated with Dr Kirkup’s inquiry.
The report looked into care failings at Liverpool Community Trust between 2010 and 2014. The trust provides health services such as district nursing, dentistry and diabetes care to around 750,000 people.
Dr Kirkup, who also investigated the Morecambe Bay scandal, said that the leadership team at the trust was “dysfunctional from the outset” after it was established in 2010. In an echo of the Mid-staffs scandal, the trust set out to achieve foundation status by setting “infeasible financial targets that damaged patient services”.
The report found that staff were constantly bullied, with a “punitive and blame culture”.
The report said: “The trust was seriously dysfunctional. There was a lack of leadership at senior and middle levels. The trust board lacked the capability to see beyond its goal of becoming a foundation trust, and failed to recognise the significant harm that its cost reduction programme was inflicting.
“Demoralised staff were badly treated and sometimes bullied, and there was a failure of nursing management and HR procedures. Serious incidents causing patient harm were not reported, not investigated and lessons not learned. The result was unnecessary harm to patients.”
After a Care Quality Commission report found significant reasons for concern, the Trust Delivery Authority, an NHS regulator, arranged for the chief executive to leave Liverpool Community Health by finding her a 12-month secondment at Manchester Mental Health and Social Care.
Emails obtained by the BBC said that “the secondment would provide Ms Cuthel with a period of rehabilitation, enabling her to reflect on her experiences in Liverpool”.