UPDATED: Since the publication of this blog the communications team of the St George’s, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group have responded. It says:

It is not correct to say Ms Usha Prasad was dismissed for raising patient safety concerns. A disciplinary panel concluded that she should be dismissed for competency grounds, concerns around her practice/conduct and because relationships with key colleagues had broken down. This decision was upheld on appeal.

I shall be publishing a blog shortly on how this decision came about and how it was plainly unjust and directly aimed at ruining her career as a doctor.

An extraordinary missive has come to light from the leaders of the Epsom and St Helier University Trust ( now part of the St George’s, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group) on whistleblowing.

The letter was sent to all staff to encourage them – that they will be safe if they disclose any unsafe practice or patient concern at the two hospitals. Indeed it says they shouldn’t hesitate to do so.

Ostensibly this followed the scandalous murders of babies at the Countess of Chester hospital which led to nurse Lucy Letby being sent to prison. The management of that hospital behaved appallingly threatening any doctor who raised the issue to cover it up and there will now be an independent inquiry.

What the letter doesn’t tell you about is the real behaviour of the top managers of that trust - its authors, chair Gillian Norton and chief executive , Jacqueline Totterdell – if anyone dares to report if something is wrong.

For this letter came out just six days after the trust were planning to land their biggest whistleblower, former consultant cardiologist, Usha Prasad, with a £180,000 costs bill for daring to raise the case of an ” avoidable death” of a heart patient at the trust and claims of racial and sexist discrimination. See hearing here.

Usha Prasad, who was dismissed by the trust, has had years of fighting the top management through employment tribunal hearings. The trust has spent a small fortune of taxpayer’s money employing battalions of lawyers to prove her wrong. The two top officials have been deaf and blind to any appeal on her behalf for reinstatement, including a letter from the chair of the British Medical Association.

Worse than that the lawyers led by Jessica Blackburn from Capsticks and Nadia Motraghi KC, from Old Street Chambers, have continually derided her attempts to defend herself. Jessica Blackburn described her whistleblowing claim as ” unmeritorious” in correspondence and Nadia Motraghi, described her case having ” no prospect of success” during the latest cost hearing which led the judge to order her to pay £20,000 in her absence. She also painted a picture of her making a fortune as locum -based on no recent evidence- and appeared to be an expert on London house prices to justify her paying the bill.

Jessica Blackburn rushed to send her the bill only for another judge to stay the payment as Usha Prasad, a brave fighter, is to appeal the original judgement against her later this year. The trust are still charging interest at a daily rate while she appeals.

So if I were an employees of the trust I would be beware of the silken and siren tones of the letter below and think very carefully before reporting anything to the top management. Think instead of the fate of Usha Prasad.

This is a serious shame because the sentiments in the letter are fine but the reality is rather different. I am afraid I think this is more a public relations exercise than really the top management being committed to real change. I fear reputational damage always outweighs concerns about patient safety.

Read the text of the letter below:

Dear colleagues

The news of Lucy Letby’s crimes has shocked us all. These acts were a profound betrayal of patient trust, and we hold in our thoughts all those who have been affected.

We welcome the independent inquiry that will take place to identify every lesson that can be learned and to do all possible to prevent anything like it happening again.

While dreadful events like this are thankfully extremely rare, this is a stark reminder of the vital importance of us all feeling safe and confident to speak up, raise concerns, or whistleblow if we are worried about something.

We are all crucial in making sure our services run safely for our patients. It’s so important that every one of you – whatever your role – feels safe and confident to raise concerns if you have any worries. We want you to know that we will always take these seriously and you will not get into trouble for speaking up. If you feel you’re being treated differently for doing so, let us know and we will act as necessary. If you have something to say, please don’t hesitate.

Our responsibility doesn’t end with speaking up; it extends to listening to concerns and addressing them. Really listening and responding in the right way to the concerns of patients, families and colleagues should be an integral part of how we work and support each other. We know that sometimes when you raise concerns things don’t happen quickly enough, and we are introducing new measures to improve this.

In the meantime, how we respond to incidents will be strengthened across the NHS with the launch of the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) from September. It will increase opportunities to learn and improve, and for closer working with those involved.

We have a Raising concerns at work policy with more detail on the process. In summary, if you ever have concerns there are several ways you can report these, including through your manager or lead director, our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, or, if you feel it cannot be resolved internally, organisations external to the Trust.

And of course, you can speak directly to us, or any member of our executive team or Board – we are here to listen and act as necessary on what you say.

We are sure that many of you will have found these recent events upsetting, and if you would like to talk to someone please do reach out to your line manager or to our staff support service – email esth.staffcounselling@nhs.net  or call (number deleted)

Thank you for everything you do every day to keep our patients and families cared for and safe.

With best wishes,

Gillian Norton, Chairman

Jacqueline Totterdell, Group Chief Executive

One-Time

Monthly

Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

£5.00

£10.00

£20.00

£5.00

£15.00

£100.00

£5.00

£15.00

£100.00

Or enter a custom amount

£

---

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly