Jenny said:

[00:00:27] “It wasn’t just doctors, who replied. About 25% of all the people who applied were nurses. And we had a full range of healthcare professionals, although it’s quite right that most of them are doctors.

These are people who genuinely try the right channels. They were raising concerns. They went to the people who should have listened to them, and they felt that they couldn’t raise a concern or they weren’t listened to. And if you have a transparent culture of reporting and if people feel free that they can speak up on safety concerns. It saves lives. This is about making patients safer and making staff safer. It’s not about pointing fingers.

It’s about patient safety. Now, the other thing I just want to briefly say about this survey. Was this a self-selecting survey? In a sense, it was. But what was very interesting is that 50 percent of the people that replied did not report problems in this area. So there was actually quite a level of balance. Of the 50 percent of people who said there were problems, thirty percent of those said that they felt very bullied and harassed.

So this shows worrying levels of bullying and harassment about an issue which, as we approach a pandemic, is entirely the opposite way of how we should be proceeding.”

She went on to highlight that there was some good practice highlighted in the survey but that the bad practice was not just in hospitals but GP practices and care homes too.

[00:03:16] “You only need, as you know, yourself, one to two people to be ignored for a crisis to be potentially covered over. The only way you stop that happening and keep people safe, staff and patients, is if you actually say, please, any problems, speak up. We’ll deal with it in the right way.

And yet that’s how you keep people safe. If you’re a patient, you know, many people listening to the show, they all may have gone into hospital. They may have relatives in hospital. Do you want to go into a hospital and meet staff who are free to speak up about concerns? And there is an open way of dealing with that? Or do you want to go into hospital or to be in the community and be dealt with by an organization where people are scared. I ask you, where would you like to be looked after? And I’ll tell you, the safest place is always the place where people can raise concerns.”

Speaking about some of the individual concerns she said:

[00:004:56] Many who contacted us were black and ethnic minority doctors. Now, recently we have found out that they are at excess risk of suffering, not only severe detriment, but death. You know that we’ve lost over 150 health care workers, even though we entirely accept that not all those would have been because of their work. Now, one of them was hauled off a ward and given a half an hour dressing down saying, why are you asking for more PPE? He said to me, I am in fear of my job. You know, he’s not actually been sacked, but he is in fear of his job. Other people have been turning up to work in PPE that they source themselves and been told to leave the shift because nobody else is wearing what they’re wearing.

Now, of course, you have to have a standard, but how that should have been handled is “How can I support you? What is your fear? What are you worried about?” Instead, it’s the entire opposite. And people are looking at their colleagues on ITU, going off sick. How are they supposed to behave? Fear is toxic.

You can never have a safe way of looking after people if you’ve got staff working in fear.

The stories include:

• a pregnant doctor who fainted after being forced to stand up for 15 hours straight and being denied water. The junior doctor was subsequently shouted at in front of colleagues and patients on regaining consciousness and told it was her choice to be pregnant and that ‘no allowances would be made’.

• a doctor who told us that a junior doctor hung themselves in a cupboard whilst on shift and was not found for 3 days as no-one had looked for them. His junior doctor colleagues were not allowed to talk about his suicide and it was all ‘hushed up’.

• • a doctor who was denied a change of clothes into scrubs after having a miscarriage at work despite her trousers being soaked in blood.

(Additional stories can be shared on request).

In 2019, The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) compiled a dossier of over 1000 stories of 2 frontline doctors brutally treated by the NHS .

DAUK subsequently launched anti-bullying campaigns #NHSMeToo and Compassionate Culture. The grassroots campaigns were supported by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock who spoke of the need to develop compassionate leadership in our NHS and vowed to see that changes are made.

Despite the promises and assurances of a culture change it is evident that this has not happened. During the worst winter crisis on record DAUK was inundated with stories from doctors, yet again, all attesting that conditions on the frontline have worsened, to the point feel they have no option but to leave the NHS. With so little regard for doctors’ wellbeing it it cannot come as surprise that we currently have nearly 10,000 vacancies for doctors across the frontline.

The time has come to act. With a deepening workforce crisis the NHS cannot continue to treat its staff with so little regard.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, Chair of The Doctors’ Association UK and an anaesthetic doctor said: “These heart breaking stories from across the country show the extent of bullying and harassment that doctors face whilst working to care for patients. Heart wrenching examples of being denied access to tap water after the tragic loss of a patient just reveals how heartless and inhumane conditions can be for doctors working on the frontline.”

“It is easy therefore to see why the goodwill that the NHS relies upon has truly run dry. Doctors have spoken in their droves of being denied access to drinks, being accused of theft for eating a biscuit even though they’ve foregone their breaks, and this may be the only thing they eat or drink all day. A learned helplessness cannot be allowed to develop, it is vital that our doctors, the very backbone of our NHS are respected and looked after so that they’re at their very best when caring for patients.”

Dr Natalie Ashburner, The Doctors’ Association UK Wellbeing Lead and psychiatry doctor said: “It is extremely disappointing that doctors are reporting a lack of access to basic resources such as drinking water at hospitals all over the UK. The effect of these inconsiderate, short- sighted and bureaucratic decisions on both the physical and mental wellbeing of staff who already work long antisocial shifts under tremendous stress in a climate of unprecedented demand for already stretched resources should not be underestimated. NHS trusts must urgently take measures to make the mental and physical wellbeing of doctors a priority by addressing the issues we have highlighted, creating a compassionate culture and remembering that doctors are human too.”

CONTACT press@dauk.org

The investigation has uncovered harrowing stories of young medics being denied drinking water during gruelling shifts, working for 15 hours on their feet non-stop and of uncaring managers tearing into them for breaking down in tears over the deaths of patients. One was even accused of “stealing” surgical scrubs she took to wear after suffering a miscarriage at work. The distraught woman finished her shift wearing blood-soaked trousers, instead of going home to rest.

Doctors are now quitting in their droves, leaving those left ­struggling to cope with a growing ­workload. Our probe reveals the reality of working for an NHS which has been subject to a record funding squeeze and is 8,000 medics short.

Health chiefs vowed to ­investigate the Mirror’s evidence from 602 ­testimonials submitted to grass roots lobbying group The Doctors Association UK.

Heartbreaking examples of being denied access to water after the tragic loss of a patient reveals how ­heartless and inhumane conditions can be.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, DAUK Chair the Daily Mirror

Chairman Dr Rinesh Parmar said: “These heartbreaking stories from across the country show the extent of bullying and harassment that frontline doctors face whilst working to care for patients. Heartbreaking examples of being denied access to water after the tragic loss of a patient reveals how ­heartless and inhumane conditions can be.

“It is easy to see why the goodwill that the NHS relies upon has truly run dry. Doctors have spoken in their droves of being denied access to drinks, being accused of theft for eating a biscuit even though they’ve forgone breaks and this may be the only thing they eat or drink all day.

“A learned helplessness cannot be allowed to develop, it is vital that our doctors, the very backbone of our NHS are respected and looked after so that they’re at their very best when caring for patients.”

Doctors Association UK wellbeing lead Dr Natalie Ashburner added: “It is extremely disappointing that doctors are reporting a lack of access to basic resources such as water at hospitals. “The effect of these ­inconsiderate, short-sighted decisions on the physical and mental wellbeing of staff who work long, anti-social shifts under tremendous stress in a climate of unprecedented demand for already stretched resources should not be underestimated.

The NHS is already haemorrhaging doctors

Dr Natalie Ashburner, DAUK Wellbeing Lead the Daily Mirror

“The NHS is already haemorrhaging doctors. Trusts must urgently take measures to make the mental and ­physical wellbeing of doctors a priority, creating a compassionate culture and remembering doctors are human too.” A recent poll found almost a third of doctors may be suffering from burnout, stress and “compassion fatigue”.

The NHS has some of the fewest doctors in proportion to the population compared to other developed nations. NHS funding increases have been at a record low of 1%, compared to a 4% historical average.

The Department of Health and Social Care said of our investigation: “These accounts are deeply distressing. This type of behaviour has no place in our NHS and nobody should have to face bullying or harassment in the workplace. “We take these kinds of reports very ­seriously and we’re committed to making the NHS a better place to work.”

Excerpt from the Daily Mirror article by Martin Bagot, read the full article here: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/harrowing-stories-burned-out-nhs-21487129