Troubled Birmingham hospital trust 'taking concerns seriously'

University Hospitals Birmingham is one of the largest teaching hospital trusts in England

A hospital trust has said it was taking very seriously issues raised by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) following concerns over patient safety, culture and leadership.

The ombudsman said University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) had failed to "fully accept or acknowledge" the impact of a PHSO report into the concerns.

Among the issues raised by staff was a dangerous shortage of nurses.

Three separate reviews are taking place into practices at the trust.

An investigation by BBC Newsnight and BBC West Midlands found a lack of communication had led to some haematology patients dying without receiving treatment.

In December 2022, Newsnight heard allegations whistle blowers were punished by management for raising safety worries.

Tristan Reuser, an eye surgeon at UHB told the programme: "If senior management can't run a hospital properly and don't want to listen to feedback, criticism, about patient safety issues, then who suffers in the end, it's the patients."

The trust runs four big hospitals

Months earlier, in July 2022, it has emerged the PHSO took the unusual step of issuing what is known as an Emerging Concerns Protocol, to alert NHS England to its own concerns about the trust.

The PHSO said its investigations had uncovered "serious concerns" about UHB.

It said: "These include the culture of the Trust, its failure to fully accept or acknowledge the impact of our findings from investigations on patient safety, and its approach to the duty of care to its staff."

Ombudsman Rob Behrens added: "There needs to be significant improvements in culture and leadership so that people living in the West Midlands can access high quality and safe hospital care with confidence."

Three reviews

NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board announced in December there would be three reviews to address the allegations made by BBC Newsnight and wider issues of leadership and culture.

The first began in December and is focussing specifically on the Newsnight allegations, overseen by a "senior independent clinician from outside the local health system".

The trust also commissioned a broader external review of culture at UHB.

The third review will be external, carried out in partnership with NHS England and NHS Birmingham and Solihull.

The ombudsman has said it wanted to have a say in that third inquiry, which it said "would have benefited from the contributions we offered to make".

NHS England has been asked to comment.

UHB said it was taking all the concerns raised seriously and was engaging with the ombudsman.

The trust has denied pursuing whistle blowers and said its overriding concern is patient safety.

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