NHS bullying crisis could lead to strike action
A UNION representing health staff who say bullying is rife within NHS Highland is officially on a war footing with both the health board and the Scottish Government.
In a letter sent to Scotland’s health secretary Jeane Freeman the GMB said the tide of complaints from employees amounted to "the most serious failure of governance from any NHS board since the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland were created".
It also registered formal notification of a "collective dispute" against senior management and the NHS Highland board.
The collective dispute mechanism is the first step to possible balloting of union members on industrial action.
The letter promises evidence of bullying as "grounds for this action" and the GMB wants the conciliation service Acas to intervene.
The letter also states there are "shared concerns about NHS Highland’s failure to address a systemic and long-lasting culture of bullying and harassment".
And according to union official Liz Gordon, issues were "repeatedly raised within the board’s internal reporting mechanisms … and ignored and buried".
The letter continues: "This runs counter to claims made by [board chairman] David Alston that these allegations relate to a small group of disgruntled clinicians."
The GMB and four-strong team of clinician whistle-blowers who first made the bullying allegations a few weeks ago denied they had declined to meet NHS Highland representatives.
Ms Gordon said: "A meeting would not be appropriate until fruitful discussions with governing bodies have taken place."
The union considers an employers’ offer of "external support" to address the complaints unacceptable, saying it falls short of the external, independent and public review being sought.
A number of serving and former Raigmore Hospital staff have spoken out, keen to share their personal experiences of bullying.
Carolyn Dow (52) was divisional nurse manager for surgery but says she was demoted after whistle-blowing.
She now reluctantly works outside the Highlands, many miles from her loved ones. She said part of her grievance involved management trying to blame the surgical nurses for not stemming a major C-difficile outbreak.
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She said she defended her nurses at the time, citing the movement of medical patients to a surgical ward due to a shortage of beds and alleged lack of infection control.
"There’d always been intimidation since I’d been there. There is a bullying culture, that’s very obvious," Miss Dow said.
She said she submitted a letter about bullying, poor management and dangerous decisions at Raigmore which was investigated, and she claims the issues were found to be true.
"A member of the senior management team was investigated and subsequently made redundant," she told the Courier.
However, Miss Dow said she was then told she was no longer divisional nurse manager for surgery because other managers felt they could not trust her, despite her writing the letter in accordance with the whistle-blowing policy.
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland reiterated that the whistle-blowing clinicians had "declined" an offer to meet the board.
She added: "NHS Highland does not tolerate bullying and harassment. The board takes such allegations extremely seriously. Any complaints made will be fully investigated through appropriate procedures."
A temporary confidential helpline has opened for staff who believe they have been bullied.
