DAUK on BBC news on whistleblowing
Four doctors have criticised the “breakdown of trust” at a hospital that asked staff for fingerprints to try to find the identity of a whistleblower.
Jon Warby received an anonymous letter about failings in his wife’s care at West Suffolk Hospital after she died there in August 2018. A government review is being held into whistleblowing at the hospital.
The hospital said it had apologised to staff involved and it had begun a review of its “culture and openness”. The hospital was accused of conducting a “witch-hunt” after it asked staff for fingerprints and handwriting samples in an attempt to find the letter’s author.
Following the Department of Health and Social Care’s request for a review, Dr Rinesh Parmar from the Doctors’ Association has shared views from four doctors with the BBC.
They said the atmosphere at the hospital was “still tense” and “not a lot of learning has happened”. There was a general feeling among staff that the “external investigation is going to take too long and may not lead to a change in the senior management team responsible”, they said.
It was claimed a senior member of management told staff “nothing different would be done in the future if the same situation was to occur”.
“There seems to be a disconnect between us and senior management,” the Doctors’ Association was told. “This has all just led to a breakdown of trust.”
You can watch the full story on BBC Inside Out East at 19:30 GMT on BBC One Monday evening, and afterwards on BBC iPlayer.
