A damning report has revealed that senior leaders from Birmingham’s biggest hospital trust failed to attend the funeral of junior doctor Vaishnavi Kumar after she killed herself.
The culture and leadership at University Hospitals Birmingham has since been examined. The Bewick-led rapid review, which was published on Tuesday March 28 found ‘clear evidence’ of entrenched, serious failings that 'require serious attention', illustrated by the handling of the 35-year-old's sudden death.
Birmingham Live reported that the findings stated there was “considerable unrest and indeed anger" over the circumstances of the death, which was not the first by suicide among Trust medics. There was also "disappointment and anger” at the lack of senior representation at Dr Kumar’s funeral.
The corporate response to her death was seen by some as “hard hearted, lacking empathy and representative of ‘callous’ senior leaders”, said the report.
The trust had highlighted the range of mental health and wellbeing support available and encouraged staff to discuss the tragedy but did not follow through 'with empathy'.
The review said this had been ‘an opportunity lost’ for trust leaders to show what staff meant, with Dr Kumar's family ‘kept at arm’s length’. The family later said they had no opportunity for a face-to-face meeting, and were not contacted directly by senior managers.
One senior leader was so oblivious about what had happened that she emailed the young doctor 26 days after her death to ask why she was removed from her post and if she was still being paid.
The report adds that ‘lessons are being learned’ and some policies updated as a result, but states “a fundamental shift in the way an organisation demonstrably cares about its staff as people” is required.
Dr Kumar's death and its aftermath was among a series of issues subject to the six-week rapid review led by Prof Mike Bewick, ordered after a damning series of allegations about the Trust were aired on BBC Newsnight.
The trust's interim chief executive Jonathan Brotherton spoke to Birmingham Live about the findings. He said: "What happened was tragic beyond words. Dr Kumar was a hugely respected doctor, an all-round nice person, and it's clear colleagues don't believe the trust handled her death in any way that was empathetic or appropriate.
"We've really dug deep on that and looked at what we did do, what we should have done and, perish the thought, what we would do in the future should it ever happen again.
"Our chair Dame Yve Buckland has been in contact with Dr Kumar's father and he is thankfully willing to work with the organisation in the next phase of its reviews around culture and address some of the things that were experienced."
Dr Vaishnavi Kumar, known as Vaish, took her own life after feeling 'belittled' at work. She took a lethal cocktail of medication, waiting over three-hours to call for an ambulance and later died at City Hospital on June 22 last year.
Her parents revealed her final words in a bid to help other junior medics. She wrote in her last letter: "I am sorry mum, I can blame the whole thing on the QEH."
Her dad Dr Ravi Kumar said he believed the Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital had "destroyed" his daughter.
He said: "She started facing this toxic environment and she started getting a bit more worried and tearful and sometimes when she was coming back from work will say that people are belittling her and demeaning her.
"She used to get very stressed with some consultants when she was doing the handover because of the way they used to treat her during the handover, laughing at her for treatments and things like that.
"And she being a very senior registrar and also quite experienced and well-liked by all the others, that was becoming… it was taking a toll on her.
"She must have gone through a huge amount of bullying and stress otherwise she is not the girl who would have done this. So people who have done this have done a huge amount of damage and that makes me angry."
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