{"id":21992,"date":"2020-10-15T06:34:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T06:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/?p=21992"},"modified":"2020-10-15T06:34:46","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T06:34:46","slug":"east-kent-hospitals-toxic-culture-risks-patients-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/2020\/10\/15\/east-kent-hospitals-toxic-culture-risks-patients-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"East Kent Hospitals: ‘Toxic culture risks patients’ lives’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

A “toxic culture” at a troubled NHS trust is risking patients’ lives, say several current and former staff.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Managers and medics have told BBC News that people are fearful of speaking up amid a bullying, blame culture at the East Kent Hospitals Trust.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The BBC has already revealed how a man with dementia was restrained by security on 19 separate occasions to allow treatment to be administered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The trust says it takes all staff concerns and complaints seriously.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The East Kent Hospitals Trust is at the centre of an independent investigation into maternity failures and has been criticised by inspectors for failing to prevent patients catching coronavirus at one of its hospitals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“It is so badly broken,” said one manager, but the trust leadership is “so, so arrogant that it will not listen”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“If your face doesn’t fit, they come after you,” said another nurse. The trust has two main sites in east Kent; the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“The bullying culture exists across the two sites but it’s more overt at the William Harvey,” said a manager.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Recent concerns about the actions of senior leadership have included the management of Covid-19 at the William Harvey and the treatment of some staff following the poor care of the patient with dementia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"BBC<\/span><\/div>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The trust was the first in England to be criticised by the Care Quality Commission for the way it dealt with coronavirus, with high numbers of people contracting the virus in the Ashford hospital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The trust did not have an infection control director until the CQC raised concerns, an example not just of poor management but also of its “arrogance”, according to a former employee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Some staff were astonished when nurses and managers who were not involved in the care of the man who was repeatedly restrained were suspended, yet those directly responsible were initially allowed to continue treating patients.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“I wouldn’t necessarily ask to be taken there in an ambulance,” said a close observer of the trust.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“It’s geographically on the edge, so it doesn’t attract the biggest and best talent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“It struggles. It doesn’t have the turnover of staff that bring in new ideas.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A “toxic culture” at a troubled NHS trust is risking patients’ lives, say several current and former staff. Managers and medics have told BBC News that people are fearful of speaking up amid a bullying, blame culture at the East Kent Hospitals Trust. The BBC has already revealed how a man with dementia was restrained by security on 19 separate occasions to allow treatment to be administered. The trust says it takes all staff concerns and complaints seriously. The East Kent Hospitals Trust is at the centre of an independent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21994,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992\/revisions\/21994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}