Argyll & Bute Health and Social Care Partnership’s response to bullying has been further criticised by its former chair for excluding care staff and social workers employed by the council.

Councillor Dougie Philand was the first chair of the Integration Joint Board (IJB) when it was set up in 2014 to bring to together health and social care services.

A 2019 staff survey set up to understand the extent of bullying carried out was only open to health service employees despite services being run together. NHS staff can also access a Healing Process if they have been the victims of bullying but this does not apply for council employees.

The survey found seven in ten current and former NHS staff had experienced bullying and harassment.

Mr Philand, a former mental health nurse who became an independent councillor in 2007, told healthandcare.scot: “The review was only the NHS staff; the social care staff and the council staff were never asked their opinion.

“If we’re in an integrated joint partnership you should ask everybody. Half of the organisation is not being asked their opinion,” he added. “It’s not joint….and it’s definitely not integrated.”

Councillor Philand is one of the voices calling on the health secretary to intervene and mandate an independent review into the situation, as had been called for by the 2019 Sturrock report.

He has been joined by unions and a raft of local politicians, including MP Brendan O’Hara.

Others council employees in Argyll & Bute have told healthandcare.scot of their frustration at not being able to raise concerns when the staff survey went out.

One former social worker said: “Social care staff like myself feel deeply disappointed, hurt and frustrated by our exclusion from the survey that was conducted in February 2020, especially since senior management have known for many years about the level of concern regarding bullying in the workplace.

They said staff have involved politicians and the media “in the hope of getting an independent review.”

In a statement the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) said the survey and NHS Highland Healing Process are “focused on learning from and resolving historic issues, not addressing current concerns.”

They added: “All NHS Highland and Argyll & Bute Council employees working in the HSCP are able and supported to come forward with any workplace related issues. There are clearly established confidential routes for staff.”

Argyll & Bute HSCP commissioned the staff survey earlier this year that raised serious concerns and says it is now acting on the results.

At the time of a wider review of workplace bullying in NHS Highland, John Sturrock QC had concluded that a “specific review of management practices in Argyll and Bute is necessary” and warned that “because the nature of some of the allegations implicate management at a very senior level, consideration should be given to this being conducted by someone from outside the area who is viewed as wholly independent”.

Campaigners warned that staff did not have any confidence in the survey because it was arranged by management.

In a letter to the Health Secretary last week they said this amounts to managers effectively investigating themselves.

Changes to NHS processes to protect whistleblowers that were set to take effect this summer were postponed due to the pandemic.

Every NHS board already has a named whistleblowing lead or ‘champion’.

But Councillor Philand told healthandcare.scot people are coming to him because they don’t trust existing structures.

He said he has been contacted by around 15 people in recent days.

“Most of them are current employees, some of them are past employees, who are saying the bullying, the harassment and the intimidation, are all going on currently just now,” he said.

Dr Jan Calder, a consultant who lost her job after criticising the closure of the Knapdale dementia ward and is now campaigning for an independent review, said the procedures to protect staff speaking up are missing.

“They don’t exist and I know that from my experience and from the experience of others,” she said.

“They are all part of the same organisation and respond poorly when concerns are raised. I wouldn’t go to a whistleblowing champion who is embedded in an organisation and expect them to be fair, independent and unbiased.”

A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care Partnership said they remained committed to a “zero-tolerance” to bullying.

“All NHS Highland and Argyll & Bute Council employees working in the HSCP are able and supported to come forward with any workplace related issues. There are clearly established confidential routes for staff through HR, managers, via their representative trade unions or directly via the Chief Officer, to raise these. The Argyll & Bute review and the NHS Highland Healing process are focused on learning from and resolving historic issues, not addressing current concerns.

“The independent Argyll and Bute Culture Review run by Progressive Partnership on behalf of NHS Highland was commissioned last November, directly in response to a recommendation from the Sturrock report that further work should be done to confirm whether the issues raised were also present in NHS Highland colleagues working in Argyll & Bute.

“The scope of the Sturrock report as commissioned by Scottish government was only NHS Highland.

“This was not a staff survey, it was a specific piece of work to understand the issues being experienced in relation to bullying and harassment the review was anonymous and was not a route to report concerns or raise issues, it sought to understand the situation, to ensure that our culture plans would effectively address the root causes or if additional steps were needed.   

“Argyll & Bute Council colleagues working in the HSCP were not in the scope of the Sturrock review and weren't in scope of this follow up review. 

“During the review, Progressive Partnership interviewed around 20 colleagues, including management, HR and unions, to help inform the questions and structure of the review.  The online questionnaire was open for 6 weeks, to current and former colleagues of NHS Highland in Argyll & Bute, with a paper version also provided.

“The findings from the Culture Review were published in May this year and made available to colleagues, the public, stakeholders, the NHS Highland Board and the Argyll and Bute Integration Joint Board. It found that the issues experienced were the same as those identified in the Sturrock review, with some additional challenges due to the remote and rural geography and the history of Argyll & Bute becoming part of NHS Highland.”

The HSCP outlined a range of actions it is taking in response to the concerns, including additional staff training, virtual check-n sessions and appointing staff wellbeing champions.

 

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