West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper said Liverpool Community Health Trust NHS Trust was in “crisis” and its chief executive Bernie Cuthel needed to go, reported the Liverpool Echo last week.
She was reacting to a report published 29th January which revealed staff on the intermediate care unit based on
ward 35 of Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s Fazakerley Hospital, had raised concerns over “bullying” managers and a “blame culture” that made them afraid to report incidents. This hospital Ward is run by the community trust, and not Fazakerley Hospital.
Rosie Cooper MP raised the Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust during Prime Minister's questions bringing his attention to a damning Care Quality Commission report about Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust which raised concerns from staff about “bullying” managers.
At this weeks lunchtime Q and A she said she wanted the historic HR practice, of disciplinary action and subsequent payoffs at the trust “forensically examined”, saying that this can often be used as a mechanism for bullying.
In response he said she was “absolutely right” to raise the concerns and said he would happily take a look at them.
The CQC made an unannounced inspection of LCH’s intermediate care unit, based on ward 35 of Fazakerley hospital, in November 2013 and December 2013.
The results of that inspection revealed that that particular service – one of many the trust provides – had failed to meet all five of the care standards it was inspected for, including the standard concerning the need for the management team to support workers. For this failure, the health watchdog issued a formal warning, demanding immediate improvement.
The report said staff had told them that managers were “intimidating’, ‘unresponsive’ and ‘bullying’ and that staff would not report concerns to the management team for fear of reprisals and recrimination.
They said that the unannounced inspection had come about because staff had gone to the trust and the trust had informed the CQC.
But Ms Cooper, whose father was treated by the trust, called for the chief executive to resign, saying the trust was in “crisis” and Bernie Cuthel needed to go to ensure real change could happen.
She said:
“This is a trust in crisis. This report outlines there is poor management and leadership at the trust and makes the chief executive’s position simply untenable. Nursing and human resources directors must also consider their positions.
"It is an absolute disgrace that the culture within this organisation has left staff so intimidated that they can’t report untoward incidents or challenge the CEO and leadership team without fear of losing their jobs.”
She went further:
“The chair and the board of directors must also get a grip of the leadership team and make patients and their care the first priority.
It is an absolute disgrace that the culture within this organisation has left staff so intimidated that they can’t report untoward incidents or challenge the CEO and leadership team without fear of losing their jobs.
In page after page of the CQC report we see the consequences of an organisation being so poorly led.
You can’t expect the culture of an organisation to be changed by the same people who put the trust in this position. It is clear that for the culture to change, the leadership must change.”
Ms Cooper asked the secretary of state to investigate, saying she wanted a review of previous suspensions and disciplinary proceedings, which she said can form a part of the fear and bullying culture.
She also wants local health partners such as NHS England Merseyside and Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group to carry out a detailed review.
Ms Cooper said the report was a watershed moment.
She added:
"I believe this report finally shines a light on, and will mark the end of, the hidden bullying culture that has existed and will ensure that this health trust will be subject to intense and detailed scrutiny in the future.”
But, whilst Rosie Cooper MP, identified the Chief Executive as being the one for the chop, questions need to be asked as to whether or not such a culture is totally down to her responsibility alone and whether or not the culture amongst managers has been as a result of pressures from the top management team and board members at the Trust.
The Chair of the Board of the Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust and member of the Liverpool Community Health Integrated Governance Committee, is also Chief Executive of Liverpool charity Health At Work; and is no stranger to claims of staff being bullied in workplaces; claims an ex-employee.
Indeed in the Liverpool charity, the issue of the bullying of staff and ever increasing workloads led to promises to staff of policies being developed to address the issues and provide a process whereby staff could report their concerns without risk of reprisals; according to an ex-staff member. However, these were apparently never actually put in place.
But even more interesting is the practice used by both the Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust and Health At Work: that of pay-offs and confidentiality agreements being used on employees being forced out by bullying and the resultant stress and subsequent sick absence incurred. Allegedly, confidentiality agreements and pay-offs have been used in cases of staff being dismissed via the charity’s own internal discipline procedures in order to avoid bad publicity and subsequent threats of legal action by employees.
Indeed, this is no doubt a common practice amongst many charities and businesses, and not just within these two organisations.
Frances Molloy, speaking in her role as chair of Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust, was quoted by the Liverpool Echo as saying the CQC report was “both disappointing and difficult to read”.
She added:
“The trust board is committed to resolving the highlighted issues, many of which were identified by ourselves and by our own staff in the second half of last year. We proactively reported these issues to the CQC and have been in regular contact with them regarding the improvements and actions we have been taking since.
We take the concerns very seriously but can report that significant progress has already been made to address them. We are confident the next CQC inspection will reflect this but acknowledge there is more work to be done.
Our priority is always the care of our patients and the support we give to their families. It is important, therefore, that we recognise the issues highlighted by the CQC and reiterate our commitment to addressing them."
The issue of staff morale and culture is also being addressed through a long-term and widespread staff engagement programme which has informed many of the actions we have taken.”
Clearly, such actions are not enough and many may feel, as Rosie Copper herself, it is hard to see changes taking place without the removal of the CEO and Chairperson of the Trust's Board, along with the bullying managers.
But ultimately, it is the Government who has the responsibility for the current culture within too many hospitals within the NHS and the poor quality of care being discovered by the CQC. After all, the Tory-led coalition government policy of maximising privatisation of NHS services and the running of the World's best healthcare system as a business along with a profit motivation; is in no doubt contributing to creating the environments found within these two hospital trusts.
Source: Liverpool Echo / BBC news / CQC
