‘Bullying’ senior surgeons are putting patients’ lives in danger, say trainees
TRAINEE surgeons have claimed there is an “endemic culture of bullying” among their senior colleagues that is putting patients’ lives at risk, the profession’s leadership has warned.
Some surgeons have reported being assaulted during operations for raising safety concerns, according to a report by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd), which represents members across the UK.
It said a “visceral” atmosphere of fear among younger surgeons was leading to failures in concentration that directly harms patients. The college also warns that the profession’s “macho” attitude makes it difficult to challenge bad practice, and says the culture enabled Ian Paterson, the disgraced breast surgeon, to mutilate victims unchecked for two decades.
Senior doctors have warned that the bullying culture is negatively affecting recruitment, making entry into the discipline less competitive. RCSEd has called for bullies to be removed from their posts and has set up a task force to send into affected hospitals.
Dr Alice Hartley, a Newcastle-based registrar who co-chairs the college’s trainee committee, said a senior colleague had flung instruments at her during an operation after she asked a question, a situation she described as “not uncommon”.
In another incident, she said that a surgeon slapped her hand as she was preparing to make an incision. She said fear of older colleagues was forcing junior surgeons to cut corners, such as avoiding asking for advice in complicated cases.
“It’s getting more and more of an issue,” she told The Sunday Telegraph. “If you’ve been shouted at first thing in the morning you carry that with you for the rest of the day. You won’t be concentrating on your job.”
Last year’s NHS staff survey found that, across all disciplines, one in five doctors had suffered bullying. However, previous research indicates that surgical trainees are three times more likely to suffer abuse and that as many as 27 per cent of patient deaths during or shortly after surgery can be attributed in part to “disruptive behaviour”.
Victims who gave evidence to RCSEd said surgical leaders had spread false rumours and publicly humiliated them after they asked awkward questions.
Paterson, a surgeon in the West Midlands, was jailed for 20 years earlier this year after he was convicted of performing unnecessary and incompetent operations on 10 patients, although the true number of his victims is estimated to be several hundred.
Campaigners for the victims have called for the system, which allowed his butchery to go unchallenged, to be overhauled.
RSCEd leaders have directly linked the current bullying culture with the risk of another rogue surgeon. The college wants the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, to introduce compulsory training on bullying in Foundation Year training.
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