Hospitals are cynically hiding evidence of inadequate care in a “culture of cover-up” that leads to avoidable deaths and where families are denied the truth about their loved ones, the NHS Ombudsman has warned.
He added that far too little was being done by ministers, NHS leaders and hospital boards to tackle the deeply entrenched “culture of cover-up” in the health service and the harm done to staff who blow the whistle.
As Rob Behrens prepares to step down after seven years in office, he says in an interview with the Guardian that many parts of the NHS remain open to families who have lost loved ones to medical malpractice. He claimed that he was prioritizing “reputation management” over certain things.
Britain’s Ombudsman said that despite the NHS being staffed by “excellent people” working under intense pressure, his investigations into patient complaints “did not lead to changes to care plans or the death of a patient after death”. All too often, concealments were revealed, including the loss of important documents. He died, but categorically denied it in the face of documentary evidence. ”
Mr Behrens called on ministers to overhaul the way the NHS deals with complaints and the way a range of regulators scrutinize it.
His concerns included:
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There were too many avoidable deaths, particularly in maternity care, mental health and sepsis (sepsis) cases.
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The NHS has sometimes done “appalling” and “cynical” things, including lying and concealing evidence, to prevent families from pursuing the full facts of a death.
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The service’s legal “duty of candor” was not to force hospitals to open when the situation worsened.
nevertheless law of maltaAllowing families to seek emergency second opinions when a patient’s condition worsens is a major step forward, but families still struggle to overcome trusts’ reluctance to admit mistakes. he added.
In his plea to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins and NHS England head Amanda Pritchard, Mr Behrens said: ‘NHS leaders, including ministers, set the tone for the entire organization. We hear over and over again that safety is our top priority, but too many actions suggest otherwise.
“We need urgent and important collective interventions to accelerate improvements in culture and leadership, not just in trusts and primary care, but in the NHS and government in England.
“Culture is determined not only by the core of the organization but also by the leadership at the top.”
The ombudsman has warned of a repeated pattern of hospitals failing to take whistleblowers’ concerns seriously and threatening them. He cited Birmingham University Hospitals referring 26 doctors over a 10-year period to the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, for alleged misconduct, with the intention of punishing doctors who raised concerns. No one committed any wrongdoing.
Mr Behrens said trust boards and regulators should have dealt with the “shameful” behavior of trust managers sooner, which was well known in the NHS.
health services journal report Last week, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust accused surgeon Manuf Kasem of raising concerns that patients were “experiencing complications, errors, delays in treatment and avoidable deaths” to bosses. How he was told to pay £431,768 in damages for racial discrimination and harassment. ”.
Last year, the same trust had to pay £472,600 in unfair dismissal compensation to another whistleblower, a nurse, who warned that patients had died as a result of overwork.
James Titcombe, chief executive of Patient Safety Watch, said Behrens was not given adequate explanations in the 17 months after his son Joshua died from sepsis at nine days old in 2008. said he supports the concerns of
He said research had found that safety standards in the UK were lower than in other countries, resulting in tens of thousands of avoidable deaths each year.
Paul Whiting, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said the Countess of Chester NHS Trust failed to respond to doctors’ concerns about serial infanticide nurse Lucy Levy. (For example, forcing him to apologize for doubting his sincerity.) – This was an example of Behrens’ “reputation management” responsibility.
He added that the latest annual NHS staff survey found that last year a third of NHS staff experienced a mistake, near miss or accident at work that could have harmed staff or patients.
In response to Mr Behrens, an NHS spokesperson said: “It is absolutely important that everyone working in the NHS has a voice and feels that their concerns are heard.”
‘The NHS has updated its guidance on freedom of speech [and] Introduced additional background checks on board members to prevent directors involved in serious mismanagement from joining another NHS organization.
“As the Ombudsman knows, there has been significant work in the UK to prioritize patient safety, and progress has been made in building a more positive safety culture among employees, resulting in patient safety Improvements, including new ones, have led to higher levels of incident reporting and widespread reporting of patient safety incidents than ever before. Patient Safety Incident Response Framework.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The safety of all patients is vitally important and we have made significant improvements to strengthen patient protection, including publishing the first NHS Patient Safety Strategy. ” he said.
“We are determined to make health services faster, simpler and fairer. We train and retain staff through a long-term workforce plan to provide resources.”
