{"id":807,"date":"2021-04-19T15:19:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T14:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/dauk-in-bbc-news-west-suffolk-hospital-directors-due-to-step-down-after-witch-hunt\/"},"modified":"2021-04-19T15:19:05","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T14:19:05","slug":"dauk-in-bbc-news-west-suffolk-hospital-directors-due-to-step-down-after-witch-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/dauk-in-bbc-news-west-suffolk-hospital-directors-due-to-step-down-after-witch-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"DAUK in BBC News: &#8220;West Suffolk Hospital: Directors due to step down after &#8216;witch-hunt'&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/national-cancer-institute-z8ofh6Zkn4k-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5249\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Two directors are due to step down at a hospital that asked staff for fingerprints and handwriting samples as it hunted a whistleblower.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An inquiry into West Suffolk Hospital&#8217;s handling of the affair is due to report imminently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nick Jenkins will leave his role as medical director, while chief operating officer Helen Beck is to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NHS trust that runs the hospital in Bury St Edmunds thanked both of them for their &#8220;dedication and leadership&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a letter to staff, seen by the BBC, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust&#8217;s chief executive Dr Stephen Dunn made the announcement, but made no reference to the independent inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trust management were accused of carrying out a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-suffolk-51300595\">&#8220;witch-hunt&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0after staff were asked for fingerprints and handwriting samples in an attempt to find the author of a letter that was sent to the husband of a deceased patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An inquest was told about a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-suffolk-54060352\">series of errors<\/a>&nbsp;in the treatment of Susan Warby, who died five weeks after bowel surgery in August 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 57-year-old was given glucose instead of saline fluid through an arterial line in one operation, suffered a punctured lung during another and a week later contracted a fungal infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two months later, her husband Jon received the anonymous letter that highlighted concerns about her treatment and suggested questions about the role of a particular doctor should be raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hospital trust spent more than \u00a32,000 in 2019 commissioning fingerprint and handwriting experts in an effort to identify the author.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Doctors&#8217; Association described the trust&#8217;s actions as a &#8220;witch hunt&#8221; and said they highlighted a &#8220;toxic culture&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hospital, which serves constituents of Health Secretary Matt Hancock, later apologised to the staff involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Christine Outram MBE was commissioned by NHS Improvement to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/east-of-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2020\/02\/west-suffolk-tor.pdf\">carry out an independent review<\/a>&nbsp;into the events arising from the letter and the hospital&#8217;s handling of the affair.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was due to be completed in April 2020, but it has yet to be published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the article in full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-suffolk-56733627\" class=\"rank-math-link\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two directors are due to step down at a hospital that asked staff for fingerprints and handwriting samples as it hunted a whistleblower. An inquiry&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,92],"tags":[147,195,38,39,33,42],"class_list":["post-807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dauk-news","category-learn-not-blame","tag-bbc","tag-bbc-news","tag-dauk","tag-doctors-association-uk","tag-press","tag-the-doctors-association-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}