Hospitals ‘robustly deny’ care failings to save reputation
NHS hospitals are burying evidence of poor care, the health service’s ombudsman has said.
Rob Behrens claimed such attitudes among ministers, NHS bosses and board members in hospitals were leading to avoidable deaths and bereaved families being left in the dark.
He also claimed that many parts of the health service prioritise “reputation management” before being transparent with relatives who have lost a loved one because of medical negligence.
“We need to see urgent, significant, joined-up intervention to accelerate improvements in culture and leadership, not just in trusts or primary care but also in NHS England and government,” he told The Guardian.
“Culture is determined not only from the core of an organisation but also from its top leadership,” he said.
Mr Behrens, who is shortly stepping down after seven years as NHS ombudsman, said there were too many cover-ups after patient complaints, such as “the altering of care plans and the disappearance of crucial documents after patients have died and robust denial in the face of documentary evidence”.
He singled out avoidable deaths as being too common, particularly in maternity care, mental health and sepsis, and accused the NHS of some- times acting in a “dreadful” and “cynical” way by concealing evidence.
He called on ministers to reform how the NHS deals with complaints and regulatory checks and balances, warning that the NHS’S legal “duty of candour” was not requiring hospitals to be open about failures.
He also criticised hospitals for victimising whistleblowers, pointing to the University Hospitals Birmingham trust referring 26 medics to the General Medical Council after they raised concerns, all of whom were found not to be guilty of any wrongdoing.
The latest warning comes after the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman warned last June that a “culture of cover-up” was leading to avoidable deaths in the NHS.
In a statement, the NHS said it had “updated its freedom to speak up guidance [and] brought in extra background checks for board members to prevent directors involved in serious mismanagement from joining another NHS organisation”.
A spokesman added that “there have been major efforts to prioritise patient safety in England and progress in creating a more positive safety culture amongst the workforce, which has led to higher levels of patient safety incident reporting than ever before”.