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NHS Highland chairman Professor Boyd Robertson slams 'deviant culture' that led to bullying saying he 'personally' and the board are determined 'to eliminate the behaviours that have afflicted the organisation in the recent past'


By Scott Maclennan

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Assynt House, NHS Highland HQ, Inverness.
Assynt House, NHS Highland HQ, Inverness.

The chairman of NHS Highland has issued the most biting criticism of bullying from within the health board yet lashing out at the “deviant culture that permitted such behaviour.”

Professor Boyd Robertson was speaking as the board as the formal process set up to deal with damaging bullying claims draws to a close and the board moves to implement a wholesale overhaul of its culture.

Board members reviewed the final report from the Independent Review Panel (IRP) 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.

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-£5000; 100 got £5000-£15,000; 44 received £15,000-£30,000; six got £30,000-£60,000; and two received £60,000-£95,000.

Despite the conclusion of this stage of the process, Professor Robertson was emphatic in saying there was much more work to do as he opened the meeting praising those that exposed bullying at the health board.

He said: “The episode and events that led to the commissioning in 2018 of the Sturrock Report by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport have proved costly and detrimental to NHS Highland financially and reputationally but 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.

“We owe it to them to put in place the kinds of steps and measures, policies and practices that have been identified by John Sturrock, by the Root Cause Analysis conducted in partnership with members of the Whistleblowing Group and by the Independent Review Panel which conducted the Healing Process.

“The publication of the Independent Review Panel final report draws the formal Healing Process to a close but the hurt and distress occasioned by the bullying and inappropriate culture is still felt by many and the healing will take time.

“That makes me personally as chair and my colleagues on the board all the more determined to press on with 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 saga was exposed by whistle-blowing 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.

Fiona Hogg, NHS Highland’s director of people and culture – who was appointed in 2019 – has said for the board to properly move on it needs to be less defensive and more open to criticism.

“We absolutely know that, for every individual – we have 10,500 staff across 41 per cent of Scotland – there is no way we can guarantee what everybody’s experience is going to be, so it takes a long time,” she said.

“We have to move away from that defensiveness that is intrinsic in some services we deliver – we want to be willing to be criticised and challenged because we won’t get everything right.

“I am pleased with what we have achieved so far but it is coming towards the ‘end of the beginning’ phase of our culture transformation and we are moving into the longer-term, more substantial part to reach every single person in the organisation.”

In the report considered by NHS Highland, the IRP pays tribute to those who had the “courage and commitment” to raise bullying concerns.

It is also explicit about the toll bullying had on individuals, detailing how “many of the participants in the Healing Process had had suicidal thoughts”.

The steps towards achieving that are included in a new five-year strategic plan for the health board, titled Together We Care.


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