Culture of fear

Amid rising patient complaints in the NHS – the number now exceeds 4,000 a week – Congress highlighted concern over legal action being taken against health staff.

While Congress recognised that only a minority of these complaints are upheld, the investigation of a complaint often concentrates on avoiding litigation rather than on any learning outcomes there may be from mistakes made.

In a motion that was carried at conference yesterday (September 13), Congress called on the General Council to begin a discussion with interested parties on ending the ability of individuals to take legal action against healthcare professionals and replace it with a system that aims instead to improve patient safety.

Unite delegate Min Gunn spoke in support of the motion, both as a trade unionist and someone who has had to make a patient complaint.

“After undergoing an operation I suffered nerve damage – the delay in admitting that something had gone wrong meant a delay in getting the physiotherapy I needed,” she said.

“I believe that my disability could have been avoided if staff had felt they could come forward and be open about what had happened,” Gunn told Congress.

“Everyone makes mistakes – we are all human beings,” she added. “And I know from fellow trade unionists working in the NHS the stress staff are being put under.

“Underfunding is taking the service close to breaking point with staff being asked to work long unpaid hours. This makes mistakes more likely to happen.”

“The culture is one of fear over one’s future and trying to do the best for patients and service users in extremely difficult circumstances,” Gunn argued. “Workers are suppressed from raising their concerns.

“Training is becoming harder to come by as budgets are cut.

“All of this works against the working conditions that can prevent mistakes happening in the first place and works against a culture that is open and honest, and where mistakes are an opportunity to learn how to prevent similar occurrences.”

Gunn pointed to Unite’s factsheet, ‘Saying Sorry’, which helps members in the health sector raise these issues in the workplace.

She urged Congress to support the motion in order to help prevent “others experiencing what I have gone through”.

“We all know that trade unions as an effective voice in the workplace for staff are a necessary part of this – and a properly funded NHS.”