Changes at NHS Highland after bullying scandal 'glacial'

Dr Iain Kennedy was among senior clinicians who raised their concerns last year

A doctor who exposed a "culture of bullying" at NHS Highland has said the health board has been too slow to make improvements.

Dr Iain Kennedy was among a group of GPs who spoke out a year ago, prompting an independent review.

He described the health board's progress on the issue as "glacial".

NHS Highland said it had apologised to victims of bullying and was working to implement a culture where "everyone feels valued".

• Doctors allege 'bully culture' at NHS Highland

• QC appointed to lead bully claims review

An independent review by John Sturrock QC earlier this year suggested there were potentially hundreds of people who had experienced bullying at the health board.

'Accountability at board level'

In response, NHS Highland drafted an action plan to address problems indentified by the review.

But Dr Kennedy told BBC Scotland the pace of improvement was too slow.

He added: "We haven't seen accountability at board level.

"No-one has done a root cause analysis into the bullying. No-one has been brave enough to state the source of the bullying at senior leadership level."

Gavin Smith, the GMB union's lead representative for NHS Highland, said staff wanted to see more signs that bullying would be appropriately dealt with.

He said: "Culture change doesn't happen overnight and we recognise that, but the pace of change has been so slow it is not noticeable."

NHS Highland said the health board had apologised and was "working to implement a culture where everyone feels valued and fully deal with the Sturrock Report proposals".