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7th Nov – Aberdeeen Press & Journal Sacking claim win for Queen’ s ex-surgeon
Tribunal ruling in favour of doctor
HEARING: Professor Zygmunt Krukowski was found to have been unfairly dismissed after a dispute at ARI.
The Queen’s former surgeon in Scotland, who accused NHS Grampian of unfair dismissal, has won his case at an employment tribunal.
Professor Zygmunt Krukowski held the prestigious position for 12 years until his resignation in May 2016, having been a consultant at Aberdeen’s Royal Infirmary (ARI) for more than 25 years. The £150,000-peryear surgeon sued NHS Grampian for constructive unfair dismissal, claiming that the health board tried to discredit him after he raised concerns about patient safety in 2014. In their lengthy 120page decision document, employment judge Alexander Meiklejohn and panel members Stuart Gray and Mary WilliamsEdgar unanimously agreed Prof Krukowski had been unfairly dismissed. But they did not find that he had been discredited nor racially discriminated against by the health board.
Prof Krukowski flagged patient safety concerns to senior management in 2014. The 70-year-old’s revelations led to turmoil at the health board, with increased government scrutiny, two critical reports of Aberdeen’s hospitals and the eventual departure of several high profile figures. A probe by the Royal College of Surgeons of England subsequently uncovered a breakdown in working relationships within ARI’s general surgical team. But the royal physician was suspended from his role over bullying allegations. While cleared of any wrongdoing by the General Medical Council, he resigned shortly afterwards in 2016.
The tribunal heard that Prof Krukowski had felt “no option” but to resign, for the sake of his own health and wellbeing. During evidence, the tribunal paused as he broke down and wept while revisiting the events which led to his resignation. Judge Meiklejohn said: “We believed the recollection of this was genuinely distressing and his reaction spoke more eloquently than words could convey how he had felt at that time.”
Prof Krukowski’s legal representative Russell Bradley described the health board’s investigation into the complaints raised against him as “incompetent” and questioned its impartiality. Judge Meiklejohn agreed.
Last night Prof Krukowski said: “This process has been traumatic and not how I would have chosen or expected to leave the hospital and patients to whom I devoted more than 40 years of my professional life. “I am profoundly grateful to my family and the patients, friends and colleagues who supported me over the last four years.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: “We note the findings of the tribunal. We will look to learn from its comments on the processes and procedures followed.” A hearing date to award compensation is yet to be set.
25th Sept – BMA journal – Whistleblowers article
31st Aug- Whistleblower Prof. Krukowski in his Employment Tribunal action against Grampian Health Board- In the P&J here and here and here and here
21st July 2019- Video of Whistleblower Blast released. 90 Mins.. See it on you-tube at www.tinyurl.com/blastvid
17th July 2019- The Scottish Gov sets out to rekindle confidence in their Whistleblowing Champions scheme by advertising the paid posts for the first time ever. These are 8 hrs/wk positions, paid at the rate of £20/hr. The information pack for applicants for the positions of a Non-Executive Whistleblowing Champions with NHS Scotland (all boards) can be seen here. The 22 positions will be filled by the end of the year.
25 June 2019 Health Committee publishes its report on the proposed regulations Scottish Public Services Ombudsman(SPSO) (Healthcare Whistleblowing) Order 2019 where it mentions
“14. We also considered a Petition calling for an independent whistleblowing hotline to replace the National Confidential Alert Line (NCAL) having the power to investigate individual reports about mismanagement and malpractice without recourse to NHS managers. This would avoid the current situation where calls to the alert line are referred back to the caller’s employer.
15. We noted that the NCAL is predominantly an advice line for staff while the City of Edinburgh Council have a hotline which is a reporting line with a role in investigating a concern. Sir Robert Francis thought that having both models [a reporting line and an investigative line] was a good idea.”
19th June 2019- Whistleblower Blast event. Only one MSP, Jeremy Balfour, attends.
18th June 2019 – Scottish NHS Whistleblowers Support Group launched. The webpage invites NHS staff to get in touch if they have suffered detriment. The Group will lobby the new Independent National Whistleblower Officer to act on behalf of those who has suffered detriment for speaking out about bullying and mismanagement. More info at www.tinyurl.com/scottishNHSwhistleblowers
10th June 2019 – Psychiatrist Peter Gordon claims Royal College ‘gaslighted’ him in antidepressant row A PSYCHIATRIST said he was “gaslighted” by his own professional body after openly criticising its stance on antidepressant withdrawal and conflicts of interest. Dr Peter Gordon, an experienced old age psychiatrist from Bridge of Allan, resigned from the Royal College of Psychiatrists Scotland in November last year. [Peter is speaking at our WB Blast event]
28th May The report of the Health Committee looks at the responses on the proposals for “a new role of Independent National Whistleblowing Officer and the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman standards for internal handling by health services of whistleblowers case” – a consultation which closed on 22 May, to which no whistleblowers were made aware of or invited to contribute to. The report makes no mention of the hotline idea.
It considers how the INWO might work. Read it at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=12126&mode=pdf The main concern is that the SPSO is really a complaint handling organisation and may prove unequal to the task of holding Health Boards to account. Also the decision has been made to make Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, also the INWO; she will have two jobs. It remains to be seen as to whether she can do them both justice at the same time.
Folk wonder if she will have the power to force change. She says in the report that “..The powers [of the INWO] would be additional to the powers that I have as the ombudsman. I understand why there may be concerns, because I do not have binding powers; I make recommendations, but they are not binding. In all the time of the ombudsman, including during the time of my two predecessors, we have never had to exercise our powers to the utmost—if recommendations are not complied with, we can bring the matter to Parliament. That is a powerful indicator of itself.”
The NHS Lothian Whistleblower (WB) Champion makes much of Lothian Health Board’s “Speak Up” Ambassadors and Advocates scheme. However, NHS staff who applied to be an advocate were told they were unsuitable because they were known activists. She talks of the Board’s mediation service; activists in the midst of grievances over poor practises have never heard of it and the mediation service has never been suggested by HR; on whistleblowing it is difficult to see why mediation would help, in any event. We have the usual situation here whereby politicians are fed all sorts of reassuring guff that means nothing in practice.
Dr Lea-Ross for the Gov (p17) reckons there are few whistleblowing cases – he notes that NHS Lothian reported that it had only five live cases in the monitoring return at Stage 2. But then many concerns don’t go through that process. He reflects on what is a whistleblower and notes that it has been “left for the ombudsman to define “whistleblower” in the context of its model complaints handling procedure”.
Later, on page 35, the Health Minister herself directly contradicts all that has been said of the WB Champions to date when she says “They must ensure that the standard HR policies and processes are working. If people feel that that is not happening, they can go to the champions to say, “I raised an issue and I’ve got nowhere”, “I raised an issue and it’s been weeks and nobody’s said anything”, or “I raised an issue and suddenly they’re not talking to me”.
As we all know this is not the case. As the Chief Executive Paul Gray said in his 2015 letter (see it at www.kidsnotsuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PaulGrayLetterChampions2015.pdf ) WB Champions have expressly NO staff-facing role. It may be that she talks of the role of the NEW WB champions?. Dr Lea-Ross says the “new whistleblowing champions would come on stream at the point when we enter the six-month implementation period for the independent national whistleblowing officer”. It looks like we won’t see the implementation period beginning before Xmas.
The report says the INWO will work with HIS. It makes no mention of the hotline proposal that Parliament backed.
May 2019 The Scottish Government’s response to the Sturrock Review can be found here.
The Health Minister says she plans on “convening a Ministerially-led Short-Life Working Group, with representation from NHS boards, staff-side, the Royal Colleges and the Professional and Regulatory bodies, to examine how we collectively take forward measures that support open and honest workplace cultures.”
The problem is that this group is pretty much already in existence. It is called the Scottish Workforce & Staff Governance Committee (SWAG). And it has shown to be quite ineffective in addressing bullying matters. Time and again the same people are rolled out for these Working Groups and time and again nothing changes. Whilst one might hope the unions would be on the side of staff, the advent of Partnership working in 1997 has led to unions being compromised and giving way to management. There is little confidence of them to bring change.
Here is an example from a woman who called on Saturday, when she heard of our “Blast” event. Her name is Debby McIlquham and was bullied out of her job 17 months ago. She was a senior charge nurse with the AMU (Acute Medial Unit) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. In 2014 she complained/ blew the whistle because her boss, a Band 8 Clinical Nurse Manager [Linda Mackintosh] and the Service Manager [Janice Alexander] looked up her medical records.
That in itself should be enough to get these two fired, but they were never even disciplined.
What happened was they looked up Debby’s records and found out she was bipolar. Debbi had worked and managed at the AMU perfectly well for many years, but when these two found out her medical history, they decreed that she was incapable for work. Thereafter Debby was bullied until she complained about the unauthorised access and the bullying. She was immediately suspended. The Unison Rep (Grace Forrest) told her bosses that they should not have looked at Debby’s records, but took it no further.
Eventually Debby was signed off with stress and she was forced to take early retirement, after almost 4 years of strife.
Debby’s experience shows problems at the NHS just aren’t going away. And it shows that unions are very much part of the problem. Unison should have lodged a “constructive dismissal” claim on Debby’s behalf, but they have done nothing. Debby’s experience is the norm with the big Scottish health service unions. The main reason being that if a worker complains about a manager or a colleague, that person is more than likely in the union too – and in such a situation, the union tends to support the more senior employee. This is what happens at local authorities too – the Edinburgh Lifelong Learning IT scandal (2006) and the Property Conservation scandal (2012) were the exact same – the whistleblower was bullied out of their jobs, whilst the perpetrator got off scott-free (at Edinburgh Council, in the Prop Con scandal, one even got an OBE). If the subject of the complaint is not in the union, they are likely to be in management. But under partnership working, unions are expected to work with management. They do so by almost always giving way.
If there had been a hotline in place, Debby could have reported her bosses’ misconduct. It would have gone to the Staff Governance Committee. Since these two managers had broken a cardinal rule (they had no authority to view Debby’s records; they even left them lying open about in their office) they should have been sacked. Since we suspect that Governance’s Committee’s tendency is to cover up bad smells, and the two likely simply given a warning, the hotline provider would have gone to Rosemary Agnew, the new INWO. If she then failed to act then the whistleblower could submit to the politicians to take note. PIDA would then protect staff such as Debby from going public after that.
We have pointed out to the minister that her short-life working group will not be effective because it includes none of the victims. It is a group divorced from the front line who are complicit in the current failures.
It is because the Minister is only informed by such groups that we have convened Wednesday’s “Blast” event. But she is not attending, nor sending a representative, so she will be none the wiser as to how things might be improved by what we have to say. Which means she is missing a golden opportunity and one which is unlikely to be ever repeated. And she will be unable to improve matters in the way she says she wishes.
9th May 2019 – BBC ‘Hundreds’ faced bullying at NHS Highland‘
8th May Government release https://www.parliament.scot/newsandmediacentre/111791.aspx acknowledges the need for a hotline.
19th April – Scotsman report “The number of Scottish NHS staff contacting a whistleblowing helpline to raise concerns over issues such as patient safety has more than doubled in the past six months“
15th April – Problem identified with getting a hotline- it’s the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) where NHS bosses and union leaders (mis)manage the NHS together and who refuse to countenance change.
2nd April – Fundraising website for THE WHISTLEBLOWERS BLAST event launched for MacDonald Hotel, Holyrood for Wed 19th June 6-8pm.
We have a number of NHS doctors, nurses and admin staff lined up who want to report how they have suffered for blowing the whistle on dangerous and bullying practices.
We anticipate good media coverage for these whistleblowers have never before been given a collective voice. The Vice Convener for Health, Emma Harper MSP, has committed to attend, we must entice the other 128 MSPs to attend also. £750 target to cover costs. Donate at www.gofundme.com/whistleblower-blast
27th Mar 2019 – NHS whistleblowing on BBC radio Good Morning Scotland. Interview with Lewis McDonald MSP and Rab Wilson- starts 2:14:45 and ends 2:20:53 Call for Independent Investigative Line
4th Feb 2019 – BMA Scotland leader Dr Lewis Morrison: ‘I wouldn’t encourage doctors to whistleblow’: see Herald here
3rd Feb 2019 – Sheena Pinion: Fife cancer doctor ‘bullied out of job’ says whistleblowing cost her her career : see Herald here
11th November 2018 – “Whistle Blast” event proposed – KnS seek to empower Health Committee to press the Government for a whistleblowing hotline.
The Health Commitee comprises the following MSPs: Convener – Lewis Macdonald (LAB); Deputy Convener – Emma Harper (SNP) and Miles Briggs (CON), Alex Cole-Hamilton (LIBDEM), Keith Brown (SNP), David Stewart (LAB), David Torrance (SNP), Brian Whittle CON, Sandra White (SNP) and substitutes Bob Doris (SNP), Ross Greer (GREEN), Will Rennie (LIBDEM), Anas Sarwar (LAB), Annie Wells (CON).
KnS approached the Convener and suggested an event for whistle-blowers in Parliament – where doctors, nurses and admin staff who’ve seen disasters and been bullied for reporting them would be able to speak out. The Convener suggested Monica Lennon MSP, Labour Health Spokespersonwho said yes then bottled out. KnS now seek a new sponsor. The Health Committee are right behind this due to the intransigence of the Government in addressing the Committee’s call for better whistle-blowing facilities in the Scottish NHS. KnS made clear all political parties needed to be involved, The event looks like it will be in January/February and whistle-blowers from across the UK are lined up to speak. It will be a big event with good press interest. KnS have been working on this since March 2014 when this petition was lodged to Parliament PE01605: Whistleblowing in the NHS – a safer way to report mismanagement and bullying .
11th October – The Minister has not changed position on anything relating to whistleblowing apart from in one regard.
She explains in her letter to the Parliamentary Health Commitee that in future she will choose the whistleblowing champions in each board herself. Therefore if any particular champion is getting nowhere with any particular board they just go to her for help. Simples!
She rejects the idea of a whistleblowing hotline again, but gives no indication as to how any whistleblower might be assured that somebody somewhere will register their concerns. “We believe that it is right that Boards, as employers, have the responsibility to initially respond to a concern and that this is key in improving local culture. Where a whistleblower remains concerned about a Board’s approach they will have the ability to raise the issue with the INWO”. [Independent National Whistleblowing Officer].
So we continue to be lumbered with the useless PCAW helpline, the use of which continues to fall. (I calculated in my last email to MacDonald that our helpline sees one-twentieth of what we should be seeing, if conditions in hospitals here can be compared to England.
How will she know when whistles are blown? Through annual “Duty of Candour” reports from each Board. Which at the moment are not standardised, so for at least the next year, Boards can say as little as they like.
It feels to me that she and her Dept have learnt little from the recent Tayside and Highland shenanigans.
2nd Oct – Parly Health Committee pursue Scots Health Minister over NHS Whistleblowing failings.
Read what Convener Lewis McDonald MSP wrote to Health Miniter Jeane Freeman MSP here
27/9/18 “Thousands of NHS staff use speak up guardians“.
Article in Health Service Journal by Shaun Lintern. Thousands of NHS staff in England can take reports to their Board’s “speak up guardian” – a beefed up version of the “whistleblower champions” we have in Scotland. All their reports are collated by the Freedom to Speak Up National Guardian Dr Henrietta Hughes (whose office might correspond to our INWO if there were a hotine in place for staff to use). She counts 7,000 reports pa to March 2018.
There are 1,200,000 NHS staff in England, so therefore 0.58% have filed reports.
There are 162,000 in Scotland. If we had the same response rate in Scotland as England we could expect 945 reports pa. Last year the NHS Scotland helpline received in the period to 31st Jan 2018 just 48 reports.
This is bad, but worse is that the numbers using the helpline have decreased significantly since its introduction. Even more worryingly, looking more closely at the data reveals that the correct number and/or email address was provided for re-contact in just 11 (65%) cases. That means 35% either did not leave their details or left the wrong ones. This figure begs the question as to why whistleblowers had so little confidence in the helpline that they would do such a thing.
Could it be that Scotland’s health service is 20 times better than Englands’? I doubt it, if recent reports from Tayside and the Highlands are anything to go by.
Yet our Health Minister believes current arrangements and plans for an INWO to be perfectly adequate.
I beg you to reconsider her statement in light of this data from south of the border.
26/9/18 Herald : NHS Highland medics blast ‘culture of fear and intimidation’ silencing concerns over patient care
16/9/18 article in Sunday Post – also in Herald: EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowing chief quits scandal-hit health board
Written by Judith Duffy, 16 September 2018
A WHISTLEBLOWER’S champion at a scandal-hit health board has quit claiming serious issues were being ignored.
Munwar Hussain has stood down from NHS Tayside board and written to the First Minister and Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to raise his concerns.
He had been appointed the board’s whistleblowing champion – a role meant to ensure staff’s concerns were treated seriously – in April and was also chair of the board’s staff governance committee and a member of the audit and remuneration committees.
Yesterday, he told the Sunday Post: “I have decided to resign my position from NHS Tayside.
“I am on stress leave from this role. I have taken the decision not to return when my leave expires and I have notified the chairman.
“Certain matters were escalated to me that were serious and cause for concern. I, in turn, highlighted these issues to the chairman and others. I feel that I have not been given the appropriate assurances that these important matters are being dealt with. I have put the range of my concerns in writing to the cabinet secretary and the First Minister. I am still waiting on a reply.”
He refused to detail the issues he raised, but added: “I feel it’s serious but they are not taking it seriously.”
NHS Tayside confirmed Mr Hussain has resigned with effect from October 17, adding: “We can confirm that Mr Hussain raised concerns relating to one particular case and this is currently under investigation.”
He is one of three resignations from the board, also including the vice-chair Stephen Hay and Doug Cross, chair of the finance and resources committee. All three are members of the audit committee.
They have stood down after both the chief executive and chair left their posts after it emerged NHS Tayside had taken charitable donations to pay for an IT system.
NHS Tayside said: “Non-executive members of Tayside NHS Board Doug Cross, Stephen Hay and Munwar Hussain have decided to step down from the board and will leave over the next few weeks.”
The departures come as two reports into the financial scandals at NHS Tayside are expected to be published in the coming weeks.
The crisis at NHS Tayside emerged earlier this year when it was revealed more than £2 million had been taken from its endowment fund – made up of public donations and bequests from wills – to cover the costs of new IT systems in 2014.
Auditors also found accounts had been “misrepresented”, with a practice of using funds earmarked for e-health initiatives to offset general expenditure since 2012.
It led to the resignation of chair Professor John Connell in April after then Health Secretary Shona Robison took the unusual step of calling for him to step down.
Chief executive Lesley McLay was effectively removed from her post in the same month and left at the end of July after going off on sick leave.
The charity regulator OSCR launched an inquiry into the use of Tayside NHS Board’s endowment fund, which is expected to report by the end of September.
Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson, Anas Sarwar MSP, said: “These resignations throw NHS Tayside into fresh turmoil, and members of the public will rightly want to know what caused half of the committee to dramatically resign.”
Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, added: “NHS Tayside has been limping from one controversy to another, so both the timing and the nature of the resignations will raise questions.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Ministers are aware of these resignations and would like to thank those members for their contribution to NHS Tayside. Any issues raised around whistleblowing will be fully explored in accordance with existing NHS whistleblowing policy.”
3/9/18 new Health Minister refuses to agree to Parliament’s recommendations on whistleblowing
To see Ms Freeman’s reply to Parliament, just the bits about whistleblowing, please click here.
19/7/19 Scottish Government publish “Independent National Whistleblowing Officer for NHS Scotland engagement event: outcomes“
5/7/18: Whistleblowers welcome Parliamentary call for NHS Investigatory Hotline
Doctors and nurses who have blown the whistle about poor patient care have welcomed the Scottish Health Committee’s July 2018 recommendation for the introduction of an external investigative staff hotline.
In May, the Scottish government created the new post of Independent National Whistleblowing Officer to make it easier for those with concerns to come forward. However, in early July the committee called for the government to go further and recommended it supported the introduction of an external investigative line, alongside the existing advice line.
Its report on the subject found one third of NHS Scotland’s 160,000 staff were unwilling to speak up. Those that do have suffered. Stroke physician Dr Sukhomoy Das raised concerns about the quality of locum cover hired by his former health board, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, back in 2006. The board insisted his concerns, which included patients being misdiagnosed, were fully probed at the time and no patient safety issues were identified. However, the board has twice paid settlements to Dr Das since 2006 after failing to interview him for two different jobs.
Dr Das, presently at Ninewells Hospital, thinks the hotline is needed. He said ‘This is an absolutely crucial lifeboat for a whistleblower in our NHS to be able to raise public interest concerns outwith the Board to carry out an investigation. The current arrangements are window-dressing, including the appointments of “whistleblowing champions” from a Board’s Non-Executive Directors (NEDs)’.
Another whistleblower, Dr Peter Gordon, who raised concerns about the misdiagnosis of Alzheimer’s at NHS Forth Valley, believes he was subsequently blacklisted when he was the only applicant for a Consultant’s job at Tayside NHS. He said: ‘We need this, otherwise powerful voices may continue to talk about “putting patients first” but actually may not ensure this.’
Also supportive was a registered nurse who had raised concerns about poor patient care and then faced unwarranted disciplinary action. He said “This is a very good idea. At present folk won’t come forward for fear of bullying and victimisation, like I was.”
Even ex-NHS Health Board NEDs support the hotline idea. Gary Wilson, ex-Employee Director of NHS Health Scotland, was bullied out of his job after raising concerns such as serious bullying, breaches of due process, irregular financial decisions and that staff were not being listened to about relocation plans. He said: ‘The hotline would lift the burden off the shoulders of the employee and give them the confidence to know that their concern has been formally registered. It’s also important to recognise that the scheme will equip the whistleblowing champions on every Board to carry out the tasks that the Scottish Government has laid down for them. Without a hotline like this, they will have no way of knowing if and when someone has blown the whistle- and if their concern is being evaluated or acted upon.’
The Committee’s report followed the 2016 Parliamentary Petition calling for an NHS whistleblower hotline. The Scottish Government has until the 3rd September to respond to the Health Committee’s recommendations.
The Petitioner, Pete Gregson, is pleased the Health Committee took the petition seriously. “I really hope the Government now accepts the need for this hotline and agrees to implement it. The present arrangements are not good enough. The hotline could tackle problems early, improve patient care, avoid expensive litigation and compensation claims and save public money.”
- Scottish Parliament report of 2/7/18 – ‘The Governance of the NHS in Scotland- ensuring delivery of the best healthcare for Scotland‘ . This report is the Committee’s findings following a comprehensive investigation into the culture of the NHS and how this impacts on patients. Points 85 to 123 cover the whistleblowing matter at length, with the external investigative hotline recommended at point 119.
- Also see: BBC 2/7/18 MSPs want more help for NHS whistleblowers
- Report from Scottish Government on workshops held in May 2018, examining what the role and powers of the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer might be: See here
The Petition
The petition at the Parliamentary Petitions Committee calling for a safer way for NHS staff to report mismanagement and bullying can be read on the Scottish Parliament website here: PE01605: Whistleblowing in the NHS – a safer way to report mismanagement and bullying
In Spring 2017 it was referred to the Health & Sport Committee for consideration as part of their review of NHS Governance. More information here.
The petition was originally heard at Committee on 15th September 2016. Parliament put everything about the petition together here– from page 49 onwards. Click here to see Parliament TV’s coverage of the petition- it starts at 23.5 minutes in and lasts 20 minutes. The full offical report can be read here (it starts near the bottom of page 8- it is a verbatim transcription of all that was said).
Committee considered the petition again on 24th Nov; the official (verbatim) report is here. On the 9th February it took evidence from Edinburgh City Council, Public Concern at Work (who run the current helpline) and Unison. The report is here and the video can be found here.
The final consideration of the matter was on 2nd March 2017 when evidence was taken from Paul Gray, Chief Executive of NHS Scotland. The 45 minute video can be viewed here and the report can be read here.
The problem arises through the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) where NHS bosses and union leaders (mis)manage the NHS together and who refuse to countenance change.
Who should the Whistle be Blown to?
Gary Wilson, ex-Employee Director of NHS Health Scotland supports the idea that the hotline would take reports to regional Health Boards. Each Health Board had a Staff Governance Committee made up of a 2-3 executive and up to 5 non-executive directors (usually with at least one Cllr). Gary also used to chair the bi-monthly meetings where Employee Directors from every one of Scotland’s 13 regional Health Boards came together – so he has an excellent knowledge of working conditions that affect the 160,000 employees of Scottish NHS Boards. He served on both the Staff Governance and Audit Committees of NHS Health Scotland and notes that the non-executive directors who make up the bulk of every Health Board need to have far greater insight into mismanagement and bullying concerns if they are to fulfil their duties to effectively scrutinise the organisation.
At present non-executive Board members receive about £9,000 pa for sitting on the Board (most of those who sit on Health Boards are non-executives), but to date their knowledge of NHS workings only come through reports via the Chief Executive. The hotline would be a radical departure from existing practise, since it would mean the non-executive directors would, for the first time, have direct knowledge of what goes in our NHS.
Gary thinks this can only be a good thing. He said “For too long non-Exec members have had little knowledge of what goes in the health service, apart from what they hear from the Chairperson or Chief Executive when they come to the monthly meetings. The hotline gives a fantastic opportunity for them to get properly involved. There is an ongoing problem where almost 50% of health service staff won’t speak up if they see something wrong. And bullying from managers and colleagues remains a big issue- 15% of staff complain of this. The bi-annual staff surveys show that over the last 6 years these figures haven’t improved. We need to take action and the current helpline and champions just aren’t working.“
Kids not Suits argue the existing arrangements are quite inadequate, inefficient and waste public funding. There is almost £40M claimed by staff and patients against the NHS in Scotland each year and savings could be made if reports on poor patient care were dealt with efficiently.
It would appear that the Scottish Government’s instructions to NHS Boards were being ignored. The Director-General of Health & Social Care, Paul Gray, wrote to NHS Boards in Sept 2015 indicating that each Board should appoint a Whistleblowing Champion- who would look for assurance that investigations were being handled fairly and effectively. The champions were to ensure that reported cases were being investigated, that regular updates were provided on the progress of the investigations of reported cases, that staff members who reported concerns were being treated and supported appropriately and not victimised, that members of staff were regularly updated on the progress of the concern they reported and advised of investigation outcomes, and that any resultant actions were progressed.
They were to ensure that Whistleblowing policy contacts were being updated on the progress and outcomes of cases and recommended actions resulting from an investigation. They were to publicise and champion positive outcomes and experiences.
It would appear from examining the minutes of Board meetings that little of this is happening in Scottish Health Boards (see 8 of them below- only Tayside is doing a six-monthly review of whistleblowing). There are no Whistleblowing policy contacts listed in the whistleblowing policies of the 14 regional boards either and, as we know, the identity of the Whistleblowing Champions are generally kept secret from staff. NHS Boards declare that the champions have “no staff-facing role”, ergo their identities need not be publicised.
Kids not Suits thinks champions are being kept in the dark about the very matters they are there to fight for, so they cannot champion anybody or anything. The hotline would allow them and the Staff Governance Committees to do their job- which is to minimise risk to patients and staff. Sunlight will be the best disinfectant for our NHS.
There are actually three trusts in England who use a hotline: the Scottish Parliament has agreed to write to Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust- but University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust and Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust use a hotline too.
The Northern Ireland Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) is the independent body responsible for regulating and inspecting the quality and availability of health and social care services in NI. Their report “Review of the Operation of Health and Social Care Whistleblowing Arrangements” was published in September 2016 and has some excellent stuff in it- see it here.
The report mentions another by the four audit authorities that make up the UK. “Whistleblowing in the Public Sector- A good practice guide for workers and employers” came out on November 2014. On p25 it says “Your employer should still accept concerns raised anonymously and give a commitment that they will be acted upon, with channels of communication, such as hotlines, provided to facilitate them.”
Here is a video showing how a hotline works in action from Safecall. View it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Q4mRNa_zI It’s very helpful- it last 3 minutes or so.
Petition to Union bosses: Please let Scottish NHS members of RCN, Unite, Unison and BMA discuss whistleblowing
[Article for Labour Hame by Pete Gregson] I had a nasty experience a few weeks ago. I was booted out of the Royal College of Nursing congress in Glasgow when I was handing out flyers promoting my Parliamentary Petition calling for a whistleblower hotline for NHS staff. The nurses were very keen- my flyers went like hotcakes- but after 30 minutes I was told to leave by RCN Scotland officials.
They said I could not distribute my flyers because they conflicted with RCN policy, which was not to support my Petition . Whistleblower nurse Danni Gray, from Stoke-on-Trent Hospital, was incredulous that I was being told to leave. Danni had come a cropper herself when she blew the whistle (her story is featured in the May edition of the “Nursing Standard”, Volume 30).
The RCN is not the only union that fears having whistleblowing discussed by its members. In fact, all four big health sector unions have refused to allow their Scottish members to discuss the Petition, which calls upon the Scottish Government to establish an independent national whistleblower hotline for NHS staff to replace the current helpline, widely derided as useless.
Because health workers in Scotland are being blocked from debating whistleblowing, Kids not Suits launched a second petition to support the campaign- a petition for a Petition. This one was addressed to leaders at Unison, Unite, The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the British Medical Association.
The reasons unions don’t like the proposals are made clear in this petition. The aim was to use public pressure to get the four healthcare unions to reverse their stand – and allow staff to discuss whistleblowing at branch meetings. The petition for a petiion is now closed, but can be viewed at tinyurl.com/workplacedemocracy
I am asking Parliament to replace the National Alert Line with a proper hotline with investigatory teeth. It would differ in that it would delve into reports about mismanagement and malpractice, often without recourse to NHS managers. It would explore perceived negligence or ill treatment of a patient by a member of staff. And bullying too: the 2015 NHS Scotland staff survey revealed 15% of staff are bullied by bosses or colleagues.
Currently staff who have concerns are told to use the helpline to tell their trade union or manager – which more often than not has led to either nothing happening of the whistleblower being victimised. The survey found only 57 per cent of staff thought it was safe to speak up and challenge the way things were done if they had concerns about quality, negligence or wrongdoing.
The Petition is shortly to go before MSPs and union support is crucial to parliamentary approval. Please help me make Scotland’s health service safer. My article in the Edinburgh Evening News of the 15th August is here Whistleblower charter must be independent .
Please sign this petition to union bosses at tinyurl.com/workplacedemocracy
And please donate a few £ to help pay for publicity by clicking here
UNITE
The problem of getting unions to support whistleblowing at the NHS is highlighted in the case of Unite Scotland, whose leader, Pat Rafferty, has gone to some pains to attack the Parliamentary Petition. It all started when his Unite Lothian branch voted to donate £500 for getting 50,000 flyers printed… Read the whole story here
Why a hotline?
No NHS managers would see staff reports– just the Regional Health Board members. Whistleblowers jobs and careers would be safe, their identity secure. This is the mechanism whereby hospital workers could let those at the top learn as to what is really going on. NHS blunders compensation costs are huge. The hotline could be run by Safecall (who run Edinburgh Council’s hotline) or any another of the 5 UK providers. Cost? £450,000 pa for 160,000 Scottish NHS staff. Saving? £Millions. It will make hospitals safer.
The hotline will have investigatory teeth and would replace the existing useless helpline which has been branded “a waste of time” by campaigners. Dr Kim Holt of Patients First said “We have tried it out a few times. The people who called found it was hopeless. They’re being told ‘tell your manager, speak to your union’. They don’t have any power, so all they can do is advise you.”
Signatories so far include Kezia Dugdale MSP (Leader, Labour Scotland), Lloyd Quinan (SNP Lothian List candidate), Alison Johnstone and Andy Wightman (Green Lothian MSPs), Cospatric D’inverno (Lib Dem Lothian candidate) and Cllr Jeremy Balfour (Conservative Lothian MSP).
What Else You Can Do
We want to build a network of those who are interested in the progress of this through parliament. You may even want to present evidence (anonymously) that will strengthen our case. Get in touch here and you’ll get an e-mail when there’s news on progress.
Make sure you include your e-mail address.
The Petition calls for an independent national whistleblower hotline to replace the current useless helpline. The hotline provider would investigate reports and staff would be safe in the knowledge their concerns were for the Board’s ears only.
The new hotline would mimic the one in place at Edinburgh Council, establised in May 2014. It was featured in a January report which concluded “Many of the recommendations that have resulted from investigations have led to amendments to policy, improvements to procedures and processes, the development and sharing of best practice and improved service delivery.” The Scottish NHS would benefit from exactly the same.
The hotline Petition has been covered in the press: read the Herald news article “Campaigner bids for whistleblowing hotline with investigatory teeth” and the Kids not Suits Evening News opinion piece. The Press & Journal was pleased that the campaign for the hotline made it to Aberdeen- their article was published on 3rd May 2016.
The Petition was supported by the Scotland Patients Association, the UK Patients Association, Action for a Safe & Accountable People’s NHS (ASAP NHS) and NHS Lothian UNITE Branch .
East Edinburgh Hustings shows Support for Kids Not Suits Parliamentary Petitions
At Northfield/Willowbrae Community Centre in April 2016, the parliamentary heavyweight contenders were quizzed by the community in this event organised for the East Edinburgh constituency by the local Community Council. In the audience were two supporters of Kids not Suit’s petition to Parliament.
Kev Ferguson, Chairperson of Unite NHS Lothian, asked the panel if they would support the hotline, which he considered could make a big difference for the staff he represented. He also sought their support for an independent regulatory body for NHS Scotland, which ASAP-NHS had called for.
Candidates were uniformly in favour of the hotline and signed the petition signing sheet as soon as the hustings were over.
Kezia Dugdale, Labour leader, and candidate for Edinburgh East, was first to sign. She was followed by Andy Wightman, Green Lothian list; Lloyd Quinan SNP Lothian List (who took the place of Ash Denham); Ian Cook, Conservative, East Edinburgh and Cospatric D’inverno, SLD, East Edinburgh.
All candidates felt that the hotline would make a huge difference to the NHS; Kezia Dugdale spoke knowledgeably about the management issues of Lothian NHS.
A video was made of the event split into 3 parts; Northfield Hustings Part 1 covers the whistleblower debate and is available on You Tube at https://youtu.be/gkKrgKI4PvI
A Recent Case of a Whistleblower Bullied Out of His Job
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary’s top surgeon, Prof Krukowski, had a dreadful experience at the hands of Grampian Health Board. He is the Queen’s personal surgeon.
He was hit by an operations ban in late May 2015 after he expressed concerns was about the number of operations that were being carried out that weren’t needed. “Whistleblower suspended after voicing concerns over NHS Grampian’s running of Aberdeen infirmary” in the Press and Journal and the Daily Record covered the story as well
One of his patients, Diane Smith, 67, led a campaign for his reinstatement.
The petition to reinstate him got over 2,000 signatures:
In April 2016- Grampian Health Board were forced to release the report: “Secret report reveals extent of unnecessary operations carried out at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary” was the Press & Journal headline.
Then on the 24 April there was a story in the Press & Journal saying Prof Krukowski has now left Grampian, having been bullied out of his job.
His colleague Dr Wendy Craig got the same treatment.
Other Information on Whistleblowing in the NHS
We are fortunate in having the petition supported by a whistleblower who has seen such wrongdoings and saw his career go down the swannee as a result- Rab Wilson: see Rab’s video here to see what NHS staff have to put up with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TG1Bcv45iI .
The NHS hotline would be modelled on Edinburgh Council’s arrangement, with reports going to the Regional Health Board. Dissatisfied whistleblowers could take the matter all the way to the new Scotland whistleblower champion.
Kids not Suits (KnS) got the Edinburgh Council established in 2013- see its history here and its success was evidenced by KnS in the Edinburgh Evening News a month ago here. The Council admits to its impact in its annual whistleblowing report here.
The others supporting this petition are Unite NHS Lothian Branch, Scotland Patients Association, Action for a Safe & Accountable People’s NHS (ASAP NHS) and the UK Patient’s Association.
Readers who are up to date with the Scottish Government may have heard the announcement in March 2016 that the useless NHS Scotland whistleblowing line is to get an extra year. However, it has been derided as “a waste of time” by campaigners. Margaret Watt of Scotland Patients Association said: “The system that there is at present doesn’t protect patients. Staff feel frightened of speaking out – they are not allowed to. The existing helpline doesn’t help anybody- it doesn’t help the staff and so it doesn’t help the patients either.” (Herald 19 March 2016)
Also that there is a plan for each Health Board to have a whistleblowing rep and for there to be an Independent National Whistleblowing Officer, who will scrutinise the handling of whistleblowing cases in NHS Scotland. The KnS scheme complements these actions but the Government may argue that we need a couple of years for their new whistleblowing champions to bed in before the petition can be considered. But they admit these officers have no investigatory powers, so staff are unlikely to be much better off than they are just now if they want their concern to be investigated without fear of bias or retribution.
KnS doesn’t think the regional and national whistleblowing champions scheme is going to make much difference. We can’t afford to delay. If you were going into hospital, would you feel confident that the nurse is unlikely to report anybody who mismanages your case? Folk die because things go wrong. On the 26th February 2016 the Edinburgh Evening News reported that “Delivery room blunders had cost NHS Lothian £12m”.
And KnS does not think austerity should not be used as a reason for not doing this. NHS Scotland has 160,000 staff, so the annual cost of an independent investigating hotline provider could come to £450K. But the cost should be set against the NHS Scotland annual budget of £12 Bn. To understand the cost/benefit ratio for such a scheme, the cost of a hotline should be considered in the light of savings it should create. For instance, the cost of the hotline would be relatively miniscule if it helped minimise just one of the delivery room blunders mentioned above.
Blueprint in Australia
Blueprint have recently published a report on the UK 1998 Disclosure Act, saying it is no longer fit for purpose. It is called “Protecting whistleblowers in the UK: A new Blueprint” . The Mail reported on it when it was launched on 9th May here. For those interested in tracking whistleblowing news across the world, go visit http://blueprintforfreespeech.net
MayDay Rally, Edinburgh 7th May 2016
A Sunshine Act for Scotland
Another Parliamentary Petition of interest is this one calling for Scottish doctors to maintain a register of interests (ie big Pharma who give them cash) Read more at PE01493: A Sunshine Act for Scotland