The boss of a hospital trust being investigated by police for alleged negligence over 40 patient deaths has been accused of sending a hypocritical email urging staff to have the courage to raise concerns despite the dismissal of whistleblowing doctors.
Last week the Guardian revealed that the University Hospitals Sussex trust is under pressure to suspend surgeons whose cases are being reviewed by Sussex police in an investigation that involves more than 100 patients who either died or were seriously harmed between 2015 and 2021.
The investigation, Operation Bramber, was sparked by two consultants who lost their jobs after raising concerns about deaths and patient harm in the general surgery and neurosurgery departments of the Royal Sussex County hospital in Brighton.
In an email to staff on Friday, the chief executive, George Findlay, said the trust was committed to learning from its mistakes. He said: “When things do go wrong, we must be open, learn and improve together. That openness is how we give people courage to raise concerns and make a positive difference to patient care.”
Earlier this year the trust was facing 14 employment tribunals.
James Akinwunmi, a consultant neurosurgeon who was unfairly dismissed by the trust in 2014 after he raised the alarm about patient safety, said Findlay’s email was “laughable”.
He told the Guardian: “Whistleblowers, including myself, have done exactly what he is encouraging in the email and they were sacked for it, so you can draw your own conclusions. I suspect what they are doing is damage limitation. Instead, they should be dealing with surgeons who have been a problem for years.”
Another more recent whistleblower, who did not want to be named, expressed incredulity at Findlay’s claim that he wanted to encourage staff to raise concerns.
They said: “The email is hypocritical. How can staff have the ‘courage to raise concerns’ after what has happened to those who have? Those brave enough to blow the whistle about patient safety have been sanctioned, lost their job and had their lives destroyed.”
Suzanne White, head of clinical negligence at Leigh Day, who is representing patients who may be involved in the investigation, said: “The many families whose loved ones’ treatment at the Royal Sussex is at the centre of these whistleblower allegations will want to know that the NHS trust is equally concerned about offering them total reassurance about patient safety and that its priority is total transparency when avoidable harm to patients has been found to have taken place.
“Time and time again in the cases we do, we come across allegations of workplaces that are not conducive to patient consent and patient safety. These should be the priority for all NHS trusts.”
In 2012 Akinwunmi expressed concerns about the death of a 61-year-old man who died of a brain haemorrhage after surgeons delayed treating him for an aneurysm. This case falls outside the timeframe of Operation Bramber, but Akinwunmi has discussed it with Sussex police.
In an email to the police, Akinwunmi said the allegations under investigation were the result of “issues multiplying” after the trust’s failure to act on his concerns.
Last week, Newsnight reported the concerns of four whistleblowers at the trust. On the programme, Akinwunmi read out a letter he sent the trust’s previous chief executive, Marianne Griffiths, urging her to tackle “the charges of serious misconduct include covering up the death of a patient, the creation of an unsafe environment for patients, fraudulent behaviour, bearing false witness in court, attempting to mislead a tribunal, amongst others”.
Simon Chilcott is waiting to find out if the death of his 23-year-old son, Lewis, in 2021 is to be included in the police investigation.
He was also dismissive of Findlay’s email. He said: “We raised issues at the time they were happening, when Lewis was alive. The problem is when you raise a concern, they become defensive.”
Lewis died after an alleged error in a tracheostomy led to infection and a fatal arterial haemorrhage. The hospital eventually agreed to conduct a serious incident report into Lewis’s death, which underwent six revisions after factual errors were identified by the family.
Chilcott said: “If the trust were open and honest, there would have been one version. You have to admit to something to be able to learn from it.”
A trust spokesperson said: “Supporting staff to give patients safe and effective care is always the primary concern of the trust.
“That is only possible if staff are able, and encouraged, to raise concerns and suggest changes. Our chief executive officer, within a year of his appointment in 2022, brought in an independent ‘speaking up guardian’ service for colleagues to contact, anonymously if they wish, to raise issues and prompt improvements.”
