Health secretary visits Inverness and says dealing with NHS Highland's bullying problems will take time
Health secretary Jeane Freeman has admitted that “it will take time” to deal with NHS Highland’s bullying problem.
She was speaking in Inverness after visiting NHS Highland to see for herself what steps the board is taking after it released an action plan of how it will implement the proposals made in the Sturrock Report.
The report, published last month, investigated an alleged “culture of bullying” after whistle-blowing clinicians and the GMB union raised concerns.
QC John Sturrock found there was evidence of bullying going back a number of years and led to the cabinet secretary issuing an apology in the Scottish Parliament over the issue.
Ms Freeman said today that she wanted people to know that she was not going to “have a review, publish a report and then walk away” because she “does take this very seriously”.
“I completely understand from the report itself that this is a situation that will take time to turn around in the sense of a more positive culture than the one that exists at the moment," she said.
“So I met the chairman and the chief executive and the board, I have spoken to staff, union reps and the whistle-blowers and that has been very helpful to me to know how the report has been received.
“There were some specific discussion about how quickly the HR processes could be implemented in order that people were not left waiting for decisions and cases to be heard.
“There will be action now to look at the backlog there and get that moving so that people are treated fairly but are treated much more quickly than before now.”
The whistle-blowers said the meeting with Ms Freeman had been “really positive,” particularly that reviews of those under suspension formed part of the board’s action plan, noting also that she even thanked them for coming forward to expose the issue in the first place.
Those who met the cabinet secretary were Dr Eileen Anderson, Dr Lorien Cameron-Ross, Dr Iain Kennedy, Dr Alistair Todd, Gavin Smith who is the GMB’s lead rep for NHS Highland.
Dr Cameron-Ross said: “We felt it was a really positive meeting. We were able to discuss any concerns or challenges that we can foresee in implementing the Sturrock recommendations.
“We felt we were genuinely listened to and we have real optimism with a lot of work and a considerable amount of time.”
Mr Smith said: “We are a trade union, our job is to represent staff and fight for staff interests – if we didn’t think there was hope for the future I would tell you but I think there is.
“Time will tell how it pans out but we will be constructive and work with the developments.
"But we are clear there is a potential for a good change to happen and the new chairman and chief executive are central to that.”
Related article: Health secretary to visit Inverness to check bullying report progress with NHS Highland
