‘Bosses with sociology degrees are making life and death decisions’: Lucy Letby whistleblower leads calls to regulate NHS managers and warns ‘those who speak up are treated as the problem’
- Dr Stephen Brearey tried to alert managers at Countess of Chester Hospital
A consultant who tried to blow the whistle on serial killer Lucy Letby today called for regulation of NHS executives to make them accountable for their decisions.
Dr Stephen Brearey was one of seven senior medics who repeatedly tried to alert managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital to the neonatal nurse’s murder spree.
At least two babies died and more were harmed because executives refused to listen or believe a member of staff was to blame, it has emerged.
Dr Brearey said a regulatory body was needed to stop the revolving door of NHS executives moving between hospital trusts.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Doctors and nurses have regulatory bodies they have to answer to.
Dr Stephen Brearey was one of seven senior medics who repeatedly tried to alert managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Letby, 33, is Britain’s most prolific child killer and was yesterday sentenced to an unprecedented 14 whole life orders – meaning she will die in prison
‘Quite often we’ll see senior managers who have no apparent accountability for what they do in our trusts, and they move to other trusts, and you worry about their future actions.
READ MORE: Lucy Letby’s friends who REFUSE to believe she is guilty: Childhood pal incredibly insists the evil killer nurse’s inner circle are ‘standing by her’
‘There doesn’t seem to be any system to make them accountable and for them to justify their actions in a systematic way.’
Dr Brearey said consultants who complained or raised concerns to managers were seen as a ‘problem.’
He said that since Letby’s conviction for seven murders and seven attempted murders on Friday, he had been contacted by other doctors at different hospitals who had experienced similar treatment from managers when they raised issues, albeit not of the same magnitude.
‘Our experiences aren’t uncommon in NHS,’ he said. ‘You go to senior colleagues with a problem and come away confused and anxious because you realise they are seeing you as the problem, rather than the concern that you have.
‘I’ve spoken to a number of different clinicians around the country, not just in paediatrics, and I really think our experiences aren’t unusual.
‘I’ve also received correspondence in the last three days from various people around the country saying similar things.
‘Sometimes clinicians raise concerns with senior managers of the hospital and their lives are made very difficult by doing that.
Dr Ravi Jayaram told ITV the ‘culture in the NHS has to change’ and ‘there is no robust system of accountability of appraisal’
‘I can’t emphasise enough what a difficult position that puts clinicians in, not only do they feel the issue isn’t being addressed but they also feel under attack.
CLICK HERE to listen to The Mail+ podcast: The Trial of Lucy Letby
‘And going to work every day and carrying out clinical practices in that environment is difficult.’
Dr Brearey suggested managers were motivated by a desire to protect their hospitals from reputational damage.
‘What was put out in our case was fear of reputational damage for the organisation,’ he said. ‘I suspect underlying that is probably a fear of individual reputational damage as well.’
His colleague, Dr Ravi Jayaram, told ITV: ‘As far as I can tell (for) people in senior NHS management positions, there is no robust system of accountability of appraisal. This is the culture in the NHS and it has to change.’
Doctors’ union, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA), also called for the law to change to better protect NHS whistleblowers.
They said there should be an independent organisation for registered whistleblowers, and those who subject people that speak out to any form of recrimination prosecuted in a criminal court.
Dr Naru Narayanan, HCSA president, told Sky News: ‘There has to be better protection for people who raise concerns. We see time and again that people who do so face retribution, revenge and retaliation, and they fear for their careers.
‘There has to be a significant rehaul which has to be protected by law, where whistleblowers are afforded the protection they deserve.’
Source: Read Full Article
