A HOSPITAL trust governor and former whistleblower has resigned from her post, saying staff who raise concerns about patient safety issues are facing bullying.

Sue Allison, who was elected to the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust's council of governors in 2021, previously raised serious concerns about missed cancer diagnoses and poor standards of care at the trust. She brought claims of bullying to an employment tribunal. 

She has now resigned from her post as a governor, saying people who raise issues in the trust are having to go through a 'horrible' experience.

The former radiographer claimed she knew of multiple members of staff who had been 'bullied out' having raised concerns. 

She said: "They are frightened to speak about things not being right.

"It's my feeling it becomes more sort of everyone for themselves, unfortunately, patients suffer in that sort of atmosphere."

In recent years a number of internal and external reports have investigated large-scale patient safety issues within the trust, including an investigation into urology services that found more than 500 cases of 'actual or potential harm' to patients.

Mrs Allison said she feared the culture had not changed enough since she raised concerns herself more than a decade ago.

"I'm not saying improvements haven't been made but it seems to be a constant tug of war between people trying to speak up and make things right and other parts of the trust, especially senior managers, who are looking at the business aspect of running the trust, squashing anything that threatens its reputation," she said.

Following a recent inspection, the Care Quality Commission 'noted a high level of learning over the previous two years, with a culture of being open and accepting to indentified areas of improvement'.

Professor Mike Thomas, the chair of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We respect Sue’s decision to stand down as a Trust Governor and thank her for her contribution in our improvement work during her time on our Council of Governors. As part of our usual process, we are extending an invitation to Sue to meet with our Trust Secretary for an exit interview and to discuss any further issues. 

“We wish to make it clear that bullying and/or harassment has absolutely no place within our Trust. All feedback or concerns are taken seriously and we actively work to improve on any issues raised.    

“We have a Stand Up to Bullying approach, which includes anti-bullying training, and our Respect and Civility Team works hard to tackle any unacceptable behaviour.

"We also have other avenues for any colleague, volunteer or Governor to use to access support, including our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, Respect Champions, Workforce Team, Union Staff-Side and Occupational Health and Wellbeing Team.

"We know we still have work to do to further improve and we are absolutely committed to doing what needs to be done.”