NHS hospitals are hiding evidence of poor care, health service ombudsman claims
NHS hospitals are burying evidence of poor care, the health service ombudsman has claimed.
Rob Behrens also claimed ministers, NHS leaders and hospital boards are not doing enough to end the health service’s deeply ingrained “cover-up culture”, which is resulting in avoidable deaths and victimisation of staff who become whistleblowers.
The ombudsman, who is soon stepping down from the role after seven years, also claimed a lot of the health service prioritise “reputation management” over being transparent with relatives who have lost a loved one because of medical negligence.
He told The Guardian: “We need to see urgent, significant, joined-up intervention to accelerate improvements in culture and leadership, not just in trusts or primary care, but also in NHS England and government.
“Culture is determined not only from the core of an organisation but also from its top leadership.”
Mr Behrens also alleged too many cover-ups were taking place following patient complaints, including “the altering of care plans and the disappearance of crucial documents after patients have died and robust denial in the face of documentary evidence”.
He said avoidable deaths are becoming too common, particularly in respect to maternity care, mental health and sepsis.
Mr Behrens also alleged the NHS on occasions acts in a “dreadful” and “cynical” way by concealing evidence and blocking bereaved families from finding out the truth.
He warned that the NHS’s legal “duty of candour” was not requiring hospitals to be open about failures and urged ministers to reform how the NHS deals with complaints and regulatory checks and balances.
Mr Behrens criticised hospitals for victimising whistleblowers, as he highlighted University Hospitals Birmingham trust referred 26 medics to the General Medical Council after they raised concerns, who were all later found not guilty of any wrongdoing.
He also pointed out that the latest NHS staff survey found more than a third of NHS staff witnessed errors, near misses or incidents that could have hurt staff or patients.
Mr Behren’s comments come as the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman warned last June that a “culture of cover-up” was leading to avoidable deaths in the NHS.
It also alleged “defensive and insensitive” attitudes when patients or their relatives seek answers about problems.
In response to Mr Behren’s claims, an NHS spokesperson told i it was “absolutely vital that everyone working in the NHS feels they can speak up and that their concerns are acted on.
“The NHS has updated its freedom to speak up guidance [and] brought in extra background checks for board members to prevent directors involved in serious mismanagement from joining another NHS organisation.
“As the ombudsman is aware, there have been major efforts to prioritise patient safety in England and progress in creating a more positive safety culture amongst the workforce, which has led to higher levels of patient safety incident reporting than ever before and a widespread focus on improvement, including through the new patient safety incident response framework.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told i in response to Mr Behren’s remarks: “The safety of all patients is of vital importance, and we have made significant improvements to strengthen protections for patients including publishing the first NHS Patient Safety Strategy.
They added: “We are determined to make the health service faster, simpler and fairer. We are putting record levels of investment into the NHS, and training and retaining staff through the Long Term Workforce plan to properly resource our NHS for decades to come.”
