The Whittington Hospital

• I HAVE read Professor Lewis’s report and the management response, both of which are embedded in the Whitting­ton board papers for July 2018 (pages 109 and 101, respectively) on the hospital website, (Whittington Hospital bullies left staff ‘broken’ and ‘a wreck’, August 3).

Some salient facts are that bullying at the Whittington is an enduring problem (why else would they commission an independent report?); the report found that one in four respondents experienced bullying and harassment, and one in three witnessed bullying and harassment (in the last 12 months); and there were significant concerns flagged in the report about failings of the board members, senior medical staff and human resources.

I have to say that what really appalled me was the Whitting­ton’s management response in which they say that the professor’s report “shows that bullying and harassment is not endemic in the organisation” – just for the record, the professor’s report does not say this.

What the report does tell us is that bullying and harassment are endemic and part of the culture in senior management and human resources, and that from there it permeates the rest of the organisation.

The professor’s report says that “ill treatment behaviours are a collective responsibility”. If the trust is to get back to having a “family-friendly feel”, a place where hard-working staff feel safe and valued, it will need to change on a scale that would surely mean a change of some key personnel at a senior level.

The real question now is can senior management, who are spreading fake news and trying to talk down a critical report, be trusted to address this important issue?

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