The chief executive of the trust which runs Nottingham hospitals says he is growing more confident that bullying is being addressed within the organisation. A recent report by Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), which runs Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, said some staff still feel 'bullying and bad behaviour is tolerated'.
It comes two years after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the trust's leadership as 'inadequate', identifying a culture of bullying and cases of racial discrimination. Following the report's publication, NUH has been engaging with staff through its Big Conversation initiative.
Anthony May, who took over as chief executive in September last year, admitted he was concerned about bullying when he first started, but was growing more confident. "Not having been here for more than a few months, it's quite difficult to know how these cultures develop," he told Nottinghamshire Live in an interview following the release of his 'People First' report.
Read more: Nottingham hospital staff still feel 'bullying and bad behaviour is tolerated'
"What I do know is that people are clear that we won't tolerate it and that's got to be a starting point. It's true people have come to me and said they have been bullied or they have been discriminated against and sometimes they still are."
Mr May said the trust had formed a new non-executive subcommittee along with a director for inclusion, which would keep it "more accountable". He said: "I was a bit concerned about that when I started because what I've seen is that people were so concerned about it that a lot of activity was set off and now I think we've coordinated the activity and got the right leadership.
"I was a bit concerned about how quick we were at addressing this, I'm growing more confident but there's more to do. I have an emotional reaction when someone tells me they're being discriminated against or bullied for any reason.
"If it's racism I think everyone would see that as abhorrent but what's important here is that our new approach is ensuring everyone feels safe to work at NUH no matter their belief, ethnic background , disability or sexuality, we want everyone to feel part of NUH." NUH will update the health scrutiny committee at Nottingham City Council on its improvement at a meeting on Thursday (February 16)
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