Co-ordinated Strategy by the NHS to Discipline Medical Professionals Speaking Out About Patient Safety Issues

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, several healthcare professionals in the National Health Service (NHS) have come forward with allegations of systemic errors, wrongful deaths, and medical malpractice. However, their efforts to expose these issues have often resulted in persecution and retaliation.

Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Martyn Pitman was one such individual. He was placed under an MHPS probe after raising concerns about maternity care, and was warned it would take between six and 18 months. This is just one example of the many medical professionals who have faced counter-allegations and investigations. In fact, 41 out of 52 medical professionals interviewed by The Telegraph have reported being victims of victimisation, harassment, discrimination, bullying, or intimidation after blowing the whistle.

The NHS has been accused of fostering a culture of fear, forcing healthcare professionals to follow harmful protocols against their conscience while intimidating individual doctors and nurses if they spoke up for their patient's safety. This culture has been bolstered by the government's decision to grant hospital systems immunity from liability during the pandemic, which some argue has bolstered a system of fraud and abuse.

The MHPS investigation process, which is supposed to take six weeks, often lasts much longer. This gives NHS trusts the absolute power to be the judge, jury, and executioner over the whistleblower, with no accountability for their heavy-handed actions and no due process for the targeted whistleblower. The process has been described as a four-step playbook to break whistleblowers, including investigating the whistleblower, bullying and harassment, and years of internal investigations, disciplinary hearings, and legal battles.

Two experienced consultant anaesthetists who raised concerns claim they were instructed to reapply for their positions as educational supervisors and were replaced by junior consultants. Some whistleblowers were offered a way out of their predicament and were coerced to sign non-disclosure agreements that allow them to return to work if they pledge to stay quiet about their concerns. Two whistleblowers faced demotion, adverse changes to their terms and conditions, pay cuts, extra workloads, and were left with no option but to resign.

Retired judge Sir Anthony Hooper has expressed concerns that GMC referrals could be made as "an act of retaliation" and that "the GMC unwittingly becomes the instrument of the employer in its campaign against the doctor." Serryth Colbert, a maxillofacial surgeon, said the process keeps doctors walking on the cliff-edge threatening to push them over.

The NHS has spent millions of pounds of taxpayer money to hire law firms and investigators to harass and target healthcare whistleblowers. At least 50 healthcare professionals have come forward with evidence of being targeted for elimination by the NHS. These healthcare professionals reported 170 patient deaths and nearly 700 cases of poor care that led to medical malpractice.

Reforms are needed to hold accountable the NHS apparatus that currently has unchecked power to cover up systemic medical errors and wrongful death and abuse those who speak up about it. The current system not only silences whistleblowers but also puts patients at risk by allowing systemic issues to go unaddressed. It's time for change.

Co-ordinated Strategy by the NHS to Discipline Medical Professionals Speaking Out About Patient Safety Issues