Bullying is no way to treat our unsung heroes
I was saddened to read in last week’s Mail on Sunday about how acute care nursing sister Leona Harris saved a life in the back of a speeding ambulance and was rewarded with ‘psychological bullying’. Her patient had suffered a miscarriage, followed by a massive haemorrhage from her womb, and Leona changed her blood bag to keep her alive. But because a form was missing from the ambulance – through no fault of Leona’s – she faced months of investigations. Eventually she quit the job she loved in frustration.
Wonderful, caring nurses such as Leona are a credit to the NHS. These people should not be bullied because of glitches in paperwork.
It is time hospitals started to wake up and realise how important nurses are. David Courtney, Weston-super-Mare
The sad account of bullying of dedicated staff in the NHS is a much better reflection of what really goes on in hospitals rather than popular fly-on-the-wall documentaries. Nearly 40 years ago, as a junior in the NHS, I was told by a manager to ‘stop doing good work and being helpful, as it would then be expected from everyone’ – and that was in an era when ideas of vocation and duty were still current.
It is really annoying to watch politicians arguing about resources, seeing them as the only problems that the NHS faces. The NHS does need more resources but not if it is just to pay for agency staff, which is invariably just a sticking plaster for dysfunctional units.
Complaints against staff including bullying should be looked at by panels that include members of the public. This might help prevent the usual cover-ups.
Michael Dillon, Sheerness, Kent
How typical that a nurse doing outstanding work should be punished for a such a minor error. And we wonder why more people aren’t drawn to such professions.
A. Sexton, Surrey
It is very unfortunate that Leona Harris has been on the wrong side of disciplinary hearings and I think her case has been mishandled, but protocol is there for a reason. If we made exceptions to breaches of conduct willy-nilly, then we might as well rip up the rulebook completely.
J. Benn, London
The Leona Harris case reminds me of Pauline Cafferkey’s, the British nurse who contracted ebola in Sierra Leone. Despite risking her life by volunteering to work in the African country, when she returned to Britain she was accused of allowing the wrong temperature to be recorded during a screening process. Fortunately, the charges were later dropped. D. Holland, Exmouth, Devon