A culture dominated by medical patriarchy and misogyny, with staff who feared speaking up, took hold in one of England’s largest hospital trusts, a review has found.1
Although reforms are under way to tackle the culture, the new leadership at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust will face an “immense” task in turning the trust around, says the report from a team led by Mike Bewick, former deputy medical director of NHS England.
The report covers the second of three planned phases of a review set up in response to the suicide of a junior doctor and a BBC Newsnight programme alleging safety risks at the trust. Phase 1, which dealt with clinical safety and reported in March, found “significant evidence of a historical coercive bullying culture, where fear and threats were used as a management tool.”2
Phase 2 then looked at whether the trust was well led, and phase 3, which began in April, is focusing on the …