Fifty senior doctors ask CEO for protection against bullying

The senior doctors at University Hospitals North Midlands have written to Tracy Bullock and trust chair David Wakefield, asking for action following an internal survey in which 348 medics claimed to have experienced bullying and harassment.

The trust has commissioned a review into the survey which is being led by equalities’ charity Brap and Roger Kline, a former director of NHS England’s workforce race equality standard.

In a subsequent letter on 5 August, seen by HSJ, 50 doctors have now said: “We are forced to express our concerns over the prevailing poor culture within our organisation with most senior medical staff presently reporting they have suffered or witnessed first-hand discrimination, bullying, harassment, or victimisation.

“We… ask for urgent action by the executive and non-executive boards to immediately implement measures to protect senior medical staff from unacceptable ill-treatment.”

HSJ has also recently reported on the findings of an external review of the trust’s imaging department, which raised concerns over “unhealthy and toxic cultures”.

It is understood a separate external review has also now been commissioned into concerns over alleged bullying within ophthalmology services.

The 2020 staff survey results do not suggest the trust is an outlier for bullying or discrimination against minority ethnic staff. In the survey conducted last autumn, 30 per cent of minority ethnic trust employees said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from colleagues in the last 12 months, compared to the national average of 29.1 per cent. Meanwhile, 15.2 per cent said they had experienced discrimination at work from a manager, team leader or other colleagues, compared to the average of 16.8 per cent.

In a statement, the trust said: “We have a zero tolerance to bullying and take any issues raised very seriously and this is exactly why we have asked experts Brap and Roger Kline to carry-out a full, independent, culture investigative review to include all 600 consultants and specialist doctors and all of our 13,000 staff.”

The consultants’ letter also cited a 2012 review into issues within radiology services, and a 2019 review of obstetrics and gynaecology which allegedly warned of “a tribal non-European culture” within the department that “manifests racial/racist undertones”.

The trust said the findings of these reviews were acted on at the time.