Southern Health: 'Cultural shift' in communication with patients

The families of (l-r) David West, Robert Small, Marion Munns, Edward Hartley and Jo Deering want better patient safety

A doctor told a panel investigating an NHS trust there has been a "cultural shift" in the way staff communicate with patients and their families.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust is being investigated after failures in its care of five patients who died between 2011 and 2015.

Dr Susie Carman said staff went through a "rough patch" when they "felt worried about doing the wrong thing".

She said there was "more confidence" among staff to communicate better.

The inquiry, which is due to last six weeks, is probing how the trust currently handles complaints, communicates with families of patients, and carries out investigations.

It follows a report by Nigel Pascoe QC that found Southern Health, one of the biggest psychiatric trusts in England, acted with "disturbing insensitivity and a serious lack of proper communication" to family members.

'Intense' workload

Dr Carman, a consultant psychiatrist at Parklands hospital in Basingstoke, told the panel that some Southern Health staff "went through a stage several years ago" where they "felt worried about doing the wrong thing".

However, she said there had since been a "genuine culture shift from the top of the organisation".

Dr Carman said she believed trust could "still do things better" in its communication methods but said there was "more will about understanding why it (communication) is so important".

The inquiry heard that a patient's "consent to share" information or not could present an "obstacle" in communicating with families and carers.

Who are the five families?

• Maureen Rickman, sister of Jo Deering, 52, from New Milton, Hampshire, who died in 2011

• Diane Small, mother of Robert Small, 28, from Fareham, Hampshire, who died in 2012

• Richard West, father of David West, 28, from Southampton, who died in 2013

• Ian and Jane Hartley, parents of Edward Hartley, 18, from Wickham, Hampshire, who died in 2014

• Angie Mote and Kim Vella, daughters of Marion Munns, 74, from Southampton, who died in 2015

Earlier, Dawn Buck, head of public involvement and patient experience at Southern Health, said the trust had "structures in place" to support staff to communicate with patients.

Ms Buck said trust had employed one family liaison officer, but said their workload was "quite intense" due to the number of cases.

Ahead of the inquiry, the bereaved families decided to withdraw from the process after they claimed to have been "misled, misrepresented and bullied" by the NHS.

In 2015, the trust was found to have failed to investigate hundreds of deaths.

The inquiry continues.