BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, with agency report
SOUTH London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) plays a strategic role in London’s healthcare industry. It provides mental health services at more than 100 South London locations, including the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill for thousands of clients.

Now, the efficient services rendered by the Trust over the years could be hampered if the recurring problems of staff discrimination, bullying and harassment were not checked.

According to a recent survey, discrimination, bullying and mistakes in treatment at SLaM have been found to be above the country’s national average.

Quality commission survey

A Care Quality Commission Staff Survey published penultimate week highlighted a number of nagging issues at SLaM. The commission, an independent regulator that monitors healthcare services posed 38 questions covering staff satisfaction, training and safety to more than 300 SLaM staff, who took part in the survey.

In 15 questions, the Trust was in the bottom fifth nationally; in 10 questions, it was in the middle and in 13, in the top fifth. Specifically, the survey showed that the health institution had one of England’s highest percentage of staff, who had witnessed “potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents” in the last month.

The survey rated SLaM in England’s bottom 20 per cent with 37 per cent of staff  (nine per cent above national average) witnessing potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents. About 21 per cent of staff had experienced or are experiencing discrimination in the last year, which is seven per cent above national average.

Currently, a host of the staff had suffered or are combating a number of illnesses including mental such as depression and stress on account of discrimination, bullying and harassment.

A member of staff told Vanguard that in 2005 alone, 17 members of staff complained of bullying and harassment.

Staff complain

Indeed, a SLaM employee reportedly said: “My treatment hasn’t been as bad as some people’s but I have had to be referred to a health professional to be treated for depression. I needed to be signed off work for a month. The biggest cost to the Trust is the fact that people aren’t working as a result of stress.”

Another staff, who had been working at the Cares of Life Service, a mental health promotion community unit of the Trust for about eight years and had sought the intervention of the Member of Parliament, MP Chukka, to redress the issues, also spoke up.

Lamenting that bullying and harassment at the hospital had been long standing, the staff in an e-mail to Vanguard said: “In 2008, my team and I experienced a sustained bullying and  intimidation by my then line manager, whom I took a grievance against in June 2009. From that time onwards and during the investigation, I was subjected to a high level of  intimidation and withdrawal of equipment and staffing level and I was made to work under unbearable amount of stress. This affected my health and I became unwell in  December 2009 and I did not return to work until July 2010 due to depression.

“It was during this time that I found that my case was not an isolated case that in fact, I found over 10 such cases (since then 20 more). So myself and others formed a support group and we found out that it was  more entrenched than we initially thought. Through pooling our cases, we approached and presented our cases to the three MPs that cover  the hospital and also the constituents of some of our members. So we have met and presented our individual and collective cases to Simon Hughes, Harriet Harman and Tessa  Jowell. They have been very helpful in supporting and writing to the chair and the chief executive of the Trust.

Level of abuse

The staff continued: “We have been assured that our case will be discussed on the floor of the House but also because of the level of abuse and the concerns raised by us and  many others, the MPs are going write to the Secretary of State for health.

Needless to say that just as in 2005 where 17 employees of  SLaM complained of bullying and  harassment and not one of the17 cases were upheld after investigation by the Trust. Most of these cases are prolonged and usually staff are worn down and  leave or face more of the same.”

Another staff with complaints said that since he complained, “it took the Trust over 11 months and they found no evidence of  my claims and refuse to interview my  witnesses and I have been moved to another work area,” adding: “This has impacted on my physical and emotional health as since I have returned, two other complaints have been brought against me. Due to the MPs intervention the Trust  Management are keen to cover up.

They refuse to accept that they have a case to answer, they maintain that the Trust policies  are robust, and there is no room for appeal. I feel strongly about this especially because my health has suffered a great deal, I am having to deal with this on a daily basis and the management refuses to deal with the systematic abuse that permeate the Trust within the senior management.”

Frank Wood, a United Union Rep, claimed he had been contacted by 20 SLaM staff about bullying and was helping them to lodge complaints. He reportedly said: “Staff experience at work does affect the way they relate to the patients. If staff are happy at work and valued, this will be reflected in the quality of care they give to patients. Patients care can’t help but be affected if the staff aren’t happy, and that is the real concern. ”

SLaM staff the best motivated – Mgt

However, SLaM management has dismissed the complaints, insisting that staff at South London and Maudsley were among the most motivated and engaged of any in the NHS according to this year’s national survey.

Director of Human Resources, Louise Norris, admitted that there were cases of bullying and harassment at work, which she said were insignificant compared to the national average and were being investigated seriously.

She said:  “The majority (of staff) have said they would be happy to recommend the organisation as a place to work or receive treatment. We do have cases where staff report that they have experienced bullying and harassment at work, and the level reported is below the average for mental health trusts in London. That said, we take every case very seriously and we are currently investigating five cases.

“We have purposely created an environment where our 4,600 staff feel confident reporting their workplace concerns, and this has resulted in an increase in the total number of incidents reported. We will continue to work this way and have plans in place to improve the speed and efficiency with which we respond to claims of bullying and harassment.

Staff well-being and satisfaction are fundamental to the provision of high quality patient care.  SLaM and Unison work closely together to provide the best possible working environment.”