NHS Highland bullying claims: 'We'd do it again' insist whistle-blowers
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GOING public about bullying at NHS Highland has paved the way for a better service for everyone, according to one of the medics who blew the whistle on the problem.
Jonathan Ball, Eileen Anderson, Lorien Cameron-Ross and Iain Kennedy published a letter last September which claimed bullying and harassment was rife at the organisation.
After many NHS staff came forward to back up their allegations, a QC-led investigation was ordered, the results of which were published earlier this month and concluded “many hundreds” had experienced behaviour which was inappropriate.
The foursome said they had spent years trying to get the matter dealt with internally, and today the Inverness Courier publishes a second letter from the medics, in which they explain their position directly to colleagues.
“Some of us have been bullied ourselves; all of us know of others who have been bullied,” they say.
“We believe such extensive bullying was due to a management culture which was authoritarian, overly controlling and stifling.”
They also apologise to any staff upset by their actions after the report found that they may have initially overstated their case by claiming to represent “all” clinicians in NHS Highland.
Dr Cameron-Ross and Dr Kennedy told the Courier that they realised that by submitting the latest letter for publication, they risked re-igniting the ire of those who were unhappy about them going to the media in the first place.
But they explain in their letter that a request to have a statement from the four circulated internally was knocked back by their employers.
They wanted their comments distributed through internal channels, but the health board felt “it couldn’t accommodate this request”.
Both Dr Kennedy and Dr Cameron-Ross insisted that despite the difficulties which came with whistle-blowing, they would do the same again.
Full story in today's Courier.
