One of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK has been accused of fostering a climate of fear, with staff worried about raising safety concerns.
An investigation by BBC Newsnight and BBC West Midlands discovered that current and former staff at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust were punished for reporting concerns.
One surgeon said whistleblowers were subjected to “victimisation and retribution using GMC referrals”, meaning their employer threatened to report them to the General Medical Council where their fitness to practise would be put into question.
The trust has responded to the allegations by saying it takes “patient safety very seriously” and has a “high reporting culture of incidents” to ensure accountability and learning.
The trust is currently rated as requiring improvement by regulator the Care Quality Commission. It has four hospitals and serves over two million patients each year.
In 2017, consultant Emmanouil Nikolousis led a review into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which is run by the trust, after the deaths of 20 patients in its haematology department.
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Nikolousis, who has since left the trust, said he had been shocked by mistakes made and felt lives could have been saved.
Another clinician said raising concerns about safety could result in “being punished quite quickly and quite harshly”.
Over the past 10 years, the trust reported 26 of its doctors to the GMC, according to a Freedom of Information request. In all cases the GMC took no further action.
In one case an eye surgeon, Tristan Reuser, was referred to the GMC after raising concerns he did not have enough nurses to support key operations. On one occasion he had to resort to using untrained, non-clinical staff to support with a procedure.
The GMC took no action with the Reuser, but gave hospital medical director David Rosser a warning for not informing the watchdog that the surgeon was a whistleblower. He later won an employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal.
In the 12 months from April 2020, there were 12 “never events”, which are serious safety incidents that would not happen if proper safety procedures are correctly implemented.
That was the highest figure in the country for the period, although this number fell to four in the following 12-month period.
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The trust added that all safety concerns were “rigorously investigated” and that there are established routes in place for staff to raise any issues.
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