Claims of bullying at the Freeman Hospital 's prestigious heart surgery unit have been cited as one of the reasons behind a national investigation into "bullying and harassment" in hospital cardiothoracic departments nationwide.
The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery is currently analysing the results of a survey it distributed to members around the country asking if they had been victims of, or witnesses to, bullying or harassment. Though the survey has only just concluded, the charity's president Simon Kendall said the initial results were "disappointing".
Mr Kendall - himself a recently retired surgeon who worked at the James Cook University Hospital in Teesside until earlier this year - is now also a senior regional figure with NHS England and Improvement in the North East, Cumbria and Yorkshire with responsibility for professional standards.
Read more: Surgeons moved from Newcastle's Freeman Hospital after raising 'bullying' allegations
This comes less than a year after five junior surgeons were moved from roles at the Freeman at the conclusion of an independent review into "concerns around interpersonal behaviours" directed towards them by senior staff. Meanwhile, Health Education England - which oversees the training of junior doctors around the country - is conducting its own investigation into training in cardiothoracic surgery. This will cover a "range of topics". News of both investigations was first reported in the Health Service Journal.
Speaking in his capacity at the SCTS rather than the NHS, Mr Kendall told ChronicleLive : "Our charity is about promoting patient care and patient experience and in doing that we hope to support colleagues to fulfil their professional lives. We are very much about patient care and patient experience but part of that is supporting our colleagues.
"We are aware from our own experiences, from our conversations and from published material that in medicine there have been recent reports from around the country about bullying and harassment - and this is an issue in surgery and in cardiothoracic surgery."
He said the society was hoping to "get a measure of the extent" of bullying and harassment in the profession - and that this followed similar audits carried about by bodies in different surgical specialities. He cited a number of reported issues around the country - including the alleged bullying at the Freeman as reasons behind the survey being carried out. Cardiothoracic surgeons operate on the heart, lungs and other related areas.
He added: "There was the CQC report that in 2016 talked about bullying in Birmingham, the events at the Freeman last year which resulted in surgeons being moved after raising concerns and the GMC survey in Wales. What we hope is that by doing this survey and having this conversation it highlights the issue and makes people think about treating people with respect. It's helpful to raise these concerns."
The issues in Wales saw the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board take action after bullying concerns were raised, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported in March. In Birmingham, a 2016 CQC report said "a bullying and blame culture" contributed to issues in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's heart unit.
Mr Kendall also spoke of how important it was to consider that bullying and harassment could affect people across a range of roles in a surgical theatre - he added: "We are really concerned about the impact on patient care, patient safety and the surgical teams - whether that's charge nurses, theatre nurses, intensive care practitioners. And surgeons can be bullied too - it's about this culture of not being respectful of each other - and we're really concerned about this within our specialism."
Speaking about the results of the survey, he said the intention was for analysis to be shared with members and the public in due course. But he said early indications were of a worrying picture. Mr Kendall said: "We are trying to get a measure of the extent of this. We have only just had the results through and the results are disappointing to read. It does show that this behaviour continues to occur."
About its own investigation, a Health Education England's Paul Sadler - a postgraduate dean - said: "HEE is undertaking a national thematic review of training in cardiothoracic surgery. HEE’s regional quality teams undertook desktop reviews of existing evidence between January and February 2022."
He said the reviews were "multi-professional in nature" and that outcomes are "currently being drafted and finalised". That report will also be published "in due course", Mr Sadler continued.
In April 2021, bosses at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust asked the Royal College of Surgeons to conduct a review after reports of bullying among staff. The RCS delivered its final report on the issue in July, and made recommendations as to resolving the issue - and the junior doctors who had raised complaints were allowed to continue their surgical training at different hospitals.
In October, a spokesperson for the Trust said "In April 2021 we invited the Royal College of Surgeons to review our Cardiac services after some concerns were raised around interpersonal behaviours and working environment. The report made a number of recommendations, and work to implement these has already begun."
The trust said it was acting on the recommendations it had received In its statement, the Trust added: "We take any reports of issues within our services extremely seriously and we are working closely with the team. Quality and safety have always remained our highest priority and our patient care and outcomes have not been compromised.."
