This weekend Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Foundation Trust won a national award for its diversity and inclusion just after a still to be published national staff survey reveals a high level of dissatisfaction about discrimination and bullying among its employees.

The trust which has one of the highest proportion of ethnic minority staff in the country is one of the Excel HPMA award winners. The award is sponsored by a major law firm, Mills and Reeves, which deals with personal injury cases including medical negligence. It is one of a number of law firms sponsoring national NHS awards. Other sponsors include Capsticks for NHS innovation; Bevan Brittan for digital analytics; Browne Jacobson, for employee engagement; and Hill Dickinson for excellence in culture and talent. Ironically, three of the firms are involved in persecuting whistleblowers revealing patient safety issues – two, Capsticks and Hill Dickinson, were leading lawyers for the Lewisham and Greenwich Trust in the continuing ten year battle with Dr Chris Day, who highlighted two avoidable deaths in Woolwich Hospital’s intensive care unit. His long running case resumes at an employment tribunal later this month.

The survey shows the huge difference between the UK breakdown of the current population as referenced by the Office for National Statistics. This stands as 84 per cent white and 16 per cent from ethnic minorities. It also varies enormously from the average picture of an NHS trust. 78 percent of staff in NHS trusts are white, only 43 per cent are white at LGT. Nearly 24 per cent are black British , African and Caribbean compared 14 per cent in average and Asian and British Asian are over 26 per cent of staff compared to nearly 4 per cent in the average NHS Trust.

Given this breakdown when asked about whether staff were discriminated by their boss, the trust comes out as worse than average for a NHS trust and similarly in regards to career progression. Also there is a particularly bad result when they were asked how patients, relatives and the public treated them. Interestingly white people – who are a minority in the trust – had a significantly higher rating for satisfaction about future career promotions than ethnic minorities employed there.

Nor do the staff say they would recommend a friend or relative to have treatment in the trust’s hospitals – this is also below average.

When asked whether staff would leave the moment they found another job, some 20 per cent working there said yes – this compares with just over 15 per cent for the national average. And nearly a quarter of the staff said they would look for another job within 12 months – compared to just over a fifth on average.

Morale at the trust has got worse over the last year while there has been a slight improvement in the NHS as a whole.

However the 10 people employed on the trust’s board rate themselves as one of the best in the country.

There is also a big difference in morale among medical staff and ancillary staff. A BMA survey in 2022 produced some startling results

“Have you personally experienced any instances of bullying, harassment or discrimination within the last 12 months?” they were asked. 44% replied yes.

“If you have personally experienced bullying, undermining, harassment or discrimination in the past 12 months, did you report the incident(s)?”43% replied they had reported this and no satisfactory action had been taken.”

“Why did you not report any instances of bullying, undermining, harassment or discrimination?

42% replied they did not believe action would be taken. 26% replied they felt it would be held against them

All this suggests that this award must be more of a paper exercise than the reality there. I would have expected that the trust would be rated as one of the best in some instances. But this does not appear to be case. No doubt the media department there will praise the award to the highest level, executives will congratulate themselves and the law firms will delight in the glory. But it doesn’t look as though it was really deserved.