Bullying culture at NHS Highland needs to sorted out, says CHAT chairman after £2.8 million paid out in compensation
NHS Highland needs "to get a grip of this bullying culture and sort it out," a far north health campaigner said as the Healing Process draws to a close.
Ron Gunn, who chairs the Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) and is a Thurso and Northwest Caithness Highland councillor, hit out after health board chairman Professor Boyd Robertson criticised the "deviant culture that permitted such behaviour".
Professor Robertson was speaking as the formal process set up to deal with damaging bullying claims comes to an end and the board moves to implement an overhaul of its culture.
More than £2.8 million has been paid out to 233 individuals, with 175 receiving psychological support – a total of 135 people requested apologies, with 117 of these granted.
The total cost of the scheme is not yet finalised, as some costs, particularly for psychological therapies, are still ongoing, but in terms of compensation, 81 individuals received £500 to £5000; 100 got £5000 to £15,000; 44 received £15,000 to £30,000; six got £30,000 to £60,000; and two received £60,000 to £95,000.
Speaking on behalf of CHAT, Mr Gunn described the bullying culture at NHS Highland as "very concerning".
"They are still trying to recruit for different jobs and it is affecting that. It is not good for staff, recruits or patients either. They have to get a grip of this bullying culture and sort it out," he said.
"The amount of money paid out in compensation shows how bad it is. It is still going on and they have not been given a clean bill of health. CHAT has been aware of the bullying culture at NHS Highland for some time and know that staff were told not to go to our meetings."
But he added: "We need to draw a line under this and move on from it and put it down to a bad experience in the past, although we will wait and see how it develops."
Earlier this week, board members considered the final report from the Independent Review Panel (IRP) which was set up in the wake of a review by John Sturrock QC into claims of a bullying culture within the organisation.
It oversaw the Healing Process and was responsible for awarding participants restitution – including compensation, psychological support and apologies – where the board had failed to do so.
Professor Boyd stressed there is much more to do and praised the people who exposed bullying at the health board.
He acknowledged the incidents "have proved costly and detrimental to NHS Highland financially and reputationally" but said "the cost to individual members of staff of the harm inflicted upon them by bullying and inappropriate behaviour is incalculable and has to be uppermost in our thoughts and actions".
"We must acknowledge the courage of the whistleblowers in bringing that suffering to public awareness and drawing attention to the deviant culture that permitted such rogue behaviour, " he stated.
Professor Robertson is determined to oversee "the programme of remedial actions which aims to establish a healthy and positive working environment and culture and to eliminate the behaviours that have afflicted the organisation in the recent past".
The bullying was exposed by whistleblowing medics in 2018 and representatives of the health board have since offered their apologies.
Victims have spoken out publicly, and privately some have revealed the impact of the bullying led to suicidal thoughts.