Northern Ireland’s Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, yesterday said he was appalled and disturbed at the findings of a report into the culture of Northern Ireland’s only Cardiac Surgery Unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital. The report by independent inspectors was commissioned in January by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust following complaints by staff in the unit about the poor working culture. Whilst the report has yet to be made public, it has been seen by UTV, and was discussed at length in the Assembly yesterday.
UTV report that the breakdown of relationships between staff in the Unit has led to operations being cancelled after four heart surgeons refused to attend theatre. There are also reported to be four consultants working from home due to ‘safety and wellbeing.’
There are almost 1000 surgeries carried out at the Cardiac Surgery Unit in Belfast each year.
Whilst the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust have stated that they are appalled and that behaviours must change, they claim that the unit is a safe place for patients. This contrasts with the conclusion in the report which states that “the cultural issues in this unit represent a significant risk to patient safety.”
The report also said there are “areas where patients are placed at risk of harm, or where harm has occurred, as a result of tensions, poor behaviours and a severe reluctance amongst staff to raise concerns.”
This news will come as a shock for patients of the Cardiac Unit, who will be understandably wary about the standard of care which they can expect to receive from a Unit where the working culture between senior members of staff appears to have entirely broken down. Given the recognised risk to patient safety, it is essential that the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust take urgent action to address the issues raised in this report and reduce any potential further risk of harm to patients.