The report was provided to leaders at the Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS<\/a> trust in January but its findings were not shared widely with staff until 10 months later, prompting concerns that employees\u2019 ability to take urgent action on its 19 recommendations was compromised.<\/p>\n Staff who spoke to the RCP inquiry team said that excessive workloads were handed to inexperienced doctors, leaving them fatigued and stressed while treating patients. They described a \u201ckeeping your head down culture\u201d where their concerns were inadequately addressed. Consultants said that there was \u201csystemic bullying, harassment and racial discrimination among staff\u201d.<\/p>\n The report, leaked to the Guardian, follows a series of devastating incidents at the Blackpool Victoria hospital that have resulted in multiple arrests and six members of staff being imprisoned in the past two years.<\/p>\n Two nurses were jailed for stealing drugs<\/a> and unlawfully sedating patients to make their shifts easier. The trust\u2019s leading heart surgeon was imprisoned<\/a> for sexually assaulting five colleagues.<\/p>\n In October, a coroner ruled that an elderly female patient had been sexually assaulted and unlawfully killed in her hospital bed<\/a>; a murder investigation has concluded without identifying a culprit.<\/p>\n The trust has been accused by the British Medical Association (BMA) of doing too little to combat a \u201ctoxic culture of fear\u201d and failing to \u201cmake the necessary changes to improve conditions for doctors\u201d. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, described the hospital\u2019s recent failings as \u201cabhorrent\u201d.<\/p>\n The report does not mention the convictions of staff but provides context to the serious issues that have troubled the hospital since 2018, offering a precise account of the culture running through the institution.<\/p>\n The hospital is also the subject of an inquiry into its maternity unit and of a police investigation, Operation Bermuda, into whether corporate failings led to the death, ill-treatment or neglect of stroke patients.<\/p>\n The RCP team visited the hospital in October 2024 and interviewed medical staff who told them about \u201csignificant challenges\u201d including \u201clongstanding recruitment and retention issues\u201d across all departments, flagging that these staffing problems were affecting patient safety.<\/p>\n \u201cSignificant concerns have been raised about cultural problems, including bullying and harassment, particularly affecting international medical graduates,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n It notes that frequent leadership changes have led to a lack of institutional memory and accountability. The Trust has had five chief executives since 2018.<\/p>\n The report also heard concerns of \u201coverwhelming\u201d acute care overnight workloads; understaffing at weekends making it \u201cvery difficult\u201d to review sick patients; staffing and funding shortages affecting the management of chronic disease and Parkinson\u2019s services; doctors being fearful of airing problems; and poor supervision and training across the hospital.<\/p>\n Understaffing was so chronic that resident doctors \u2013 formerly known as junior doctors \u2013 were suffering from stress from having to look after the hospital\u2019s sickest patients because consultants were not available, the report suggests.<\/p>\n Dr Neil Hartley-Smith, the trust\u2019s medical director, said substantial changes had been made since the report was delivered in January.<\/p>\n The trust acknowledged that there had been a delay in circulating the report, caused by cancelled meetings and a change in medical leadership, but said improvements were put in place in that time.<\/p>\n The trust has been referred to NHS\u2019s recovery support programme, which replaced the special measures programme. It provides intensive support to NHS providers classified as being in a \u201ccritical condition\u201d.<\/p>\n Hartley-Smith said: \u201cDoctors are a vital part of the team here at Blackpool, so we took the feedback seriously. Since the RCP visit in October 2024, we have strengthened education and training for our junior doctors, improved the induction and support we give to doctors who trained overseasand ensured that protected learning time is built into rotas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have also created better ways for doctors to raise issues and see actions taken, and we have made sustained improvements in key areas of patient safety. In addition, we have recruited 116 doctors across the trust, including 32 new consultants. As a result, NHS England has recently stepped down the significant concerns it was monitoring around the learning environment for doctors in training.\u201d The hospital faced an unannounced snap inspection from the Care Quality Commission, the healthcare regulator, last week.<\/p>\n Streeting said patients in Blackpool should continue to come forward for NHS care and said urgent work was already under way to improve the situation. \u201cNot only am I determined to turn the trust around, but to tackle head on the stark health inequalities that have been holding back Blackpool\u2019s communities for too long,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a stain on our nation that a baby girl born in Blackpool will live seven years less than one born in Wokingham, and the NHS should and can act as a leveller for our society.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick GuideContact Amelia Gentleman about this storyShow If you have something to share about this story, you can contact Amelia using one of the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019.<\/p>\n Email (not secure)<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t need a high level of security or confidentiality you can email amelia.gentleman@theguardian.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n SecureDrop and other secure methods<\/p>\n If you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips<\/a>\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Rich Cousins<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n The BMA\u2019s north-west regional resident doctors committee chair, Dr Madjda Bougherira, called for an external investigation into the RCP\u2019s findings. \u201cAs well as the content of this report being incredibly concerning, local representatives at the BMA are worried that the trust are not taking appropriate steps to take accountability and make the necessary changes to improve conditions for doctors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cConcerns around systemic bullying, harassment and racial discrimination must be taken seriously or else a toxic culture of fear will continue to prevail, and doctors will feel unable to speak up, ultimately impacting the wellbeing of doctors and delivery of safe patient care. We need to see greater engagement and transparency from the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n The Blackpool Victoria\u2019s seven-year stretch of difficulties began when a student nurse blew the whistle over the behaviour of staff on the hospital\u2019s stroke ward in 2018, leading to the arrest of several workers for inappropriate sedation of patients and stealing drugs. One nurse messaged a colleague boasting that she had sedated an elderly patient \u201cto within an inch of her life\u201d, a court heard.<\/p>\n Last August, a vulnerable 27-year-old man killed himself<\/a> in a hospital toilet after waiting for 22 hours to be seen by the mental health team; a coroner ruled his death was \u201ccontributed to by neglect\u201d. In February, a locum doctor was jailed for 12 months<\/a> for punching a patient with dementia in the face after he used a racist term. A healthcare assistant was jailed in 2023 on eight counts of sexual assault against colleagues.<\/p>\n Resident doctors told the visiting RCP team they felt there was \u201coften inadequate supervision and poor workload management, which has a negative impact on patient safety\u201d. Trainee doctors were often \u201chandling multiple roles and responsibilities, leading to stress and fatigue\u201d. These members of staff reported that their concerns were not adequately addressed by senior leadership and described \u201ca culture of \u2018keeping your head down\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Some doctors viewed Blackpool as \u201ca stepping stone rather than as a long-term career destination\u201d, the inquiry team heard, adding that there were \u201crecruitment challenges, exacerbated by geographical location and perceived disadvantages compared with nearby trusts\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764781868_147_4000.jpg\")
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