The Christie: World-renowned NHS centre downgraded by watchdog
A world-renowned cancer centre hit by whistleblowing concerns over alleged bullying has been downgraded by the health watchdog.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) told The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester it "requires improvement" in safety and leadership.
A former trust nurse told the BBC leaders had intimidated staff to stop them voicing concerns to inspectors.
The trust said it was working hard to ensure staff felt supported.
It is not possible to make a specific comment from the outside here, but in a wider context there is a familiar sound to this piece. For example, after spending almost all of my working life in the public sector, the word "concerns" is still a familiar one. In my world it was a very reliable indicator that comfort zones were being defended.
The concerns mentioned here may be genuine, I don't know, but decades of experience suggest comfort zones to me.
4 comments:
It was the same in education. "Voicing concerns" meant settling old scores over the abolition of early finishing on Fridays, moving to different staff rooms, and unpopular but necessary training. Staff were surprisingly good at presenting these as issues which directly impacted on student welfare.
And no matter how effectively staff are communicated with, all they have to do is act dumb, and management take the hit on their communication strategy. "No, I didn't get any emails about having to take registers and help students learn something!"
Sam - not my field but your experience sounds so familiar. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a universal public sector problem. The article was almost depressing for me, such a familiar refrain, so tedious and time-consuming.
It is, I'm afraid, all too human.
Public service bosses want a cosy life, not upset by the 'concerns' of workers. Workers resist the abolition of Spanish Practices that make their jobs more comfortable. Charity bosses are more concerned about their social standing than the original aims of the charity. Sam has mentioned the dumb resistance in Education. MPs are often more concerned over the minutiae of a Bill than doing anything.
Although, to be fair, we all like to park in the same places and shop in the same stores - but at least other people are not depending on us.
DJ - that's a good analogy, parking in the same places and shopping in the same stores. A lack of public accountability seems to be quite deadening. Even when there is some mild exposure to public opinion such as in the BBC, the presence of a tax funded safety net seems to reduce the impact to almost nothing.
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