HCSA has today called for a full independent inquiry into bullying at Dudley Group hospitals after branding a Trust-commissioned probe into complaints by dozens of senior medical staff a “whitewash.”
Anger is mounting among hospital consultants following a morning briefing to staff where they were told the findings had exonerated the Trust’s leadership team.
Major corporate law firm Capsticks was hired by the Trust after an unprecedented complaint letter by 42 hospital consultants – one-fifth of the total – and intervention by the NHS Improvement watchdog.
Hospital doctors’ union HCSA, which represents a number of the doctors involved, said the resulting report “ignores the serious nature” of the issue.
HCSA National Officer Rob Quick said: “It is highly unusual to see 42 doctors put their heads above the parapet and collectively make such a serious complaint.
“The Trust have kept this so-called independent report under wraps for months and now we see why.
“Hospital doctors at the Trust are understandably incensed by this attempt to whitewash and sanitise the issue.
“We are concerned that staff morale, which is already low, will be dealt a further blow by this report’s total denial of the depth of the problem.
“This cannot be allowed to be the last word on the issue. We will now be pressing for a full independent inquiry to look at the facts in an unbiased way.”