A win for the whistleblowers, and how to look odd naked

16 October, 2009 | By Gabriel Fleming

Beyond the Bedpan throws its considerable weight behind Margaret Haywood, waves a patronising finger at the NMC, and is dumbfounded by a ‘tanorexic’

Every so often a story comes along with such an obvious dividing line between right and wrong, where the good is so good, and the bad so stupid, that it’s impossible to sit on the fence.

For good, read Margaret Haywood, the whistleblowing nurse who exposed the atrocious standards of care being inflicted on elderly patients at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton. In the bad corner, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, who rewarded Ms Haywood by striking her from the nursing register, bringing an abrupt end to a distinguished 20-year nursing career and leaving Ms Haywood with no discernable livelihood. If you’re not outraged yet, watch this:

Source: youtube

One might argue that there are better ways to report bad practice that having it broadcast on national television. But Ms Haywood is adamant that she had no choice. Her managers wouldn’t listen, Panorama would.

As far as the NMC was concerned, nothing justifies a breach of paient confidentiality, not even exposing care failures.

The nursing profession rose as one to defend her, with politicians, doctors and the BBC adding their outrage to the pile. There was also an RCN appeal, and a petition attracting over 25,000 signatures. The end result, with more than a whiff of inevitability, was Ms Haywood being reinstated to the profession this week. There’s a lesson in there, somewhere.

On the topic of nurses reinstated, but without the professional ethics, the Lying Down Game gang are also back at work. Bless.

A tan too far

Compassion, restraint, empathy - all essential qualities for a good nurse. So Beyond the Bedpan would like to take its proverbial hat off to the nurse that featured on this week’s How to Look Good Naked.

It featured salon-owner Jane, a self-confessed ‘tanorexic’ who’s appetite for golden skin is sated only by injecting herself with the unlicensed and almost definitely dangerous ‘Melanotan’. Gok Wan’s team were swiftly dispatched to make her love herself as nature intended, and without the orange glow.

But first to the hospital, where the nurse on duty showed remarkable restraint by steadfastly refusing to say something like “Of COURSE you’re going to get cancer you psycho! And for what? You look like a pint of Tango.”

Instead, she opted for gentle reassurance, and noted with mild concern that the poor woman did indeed have a lot of new moles, might want to see a consultant dermatologist, and should probably stop injecting unregulated substances into her veins. The programme looked her up six weeks later, and was depressed to discover that she was still using Melanotan, and still sporting the complexion of smoked salmon. There’s no helping some people.

Readers' comments (25)

Anonymous | 17-Oct-2009 1:06 pm
Another example of NMC inflexibility and intransigence. Support nurses? Don't make me laugh. If this woman had had other choices I am sure she would have made them. I remember being beaten up and left in a laundry cupboard for whistleblowing - no support there!! The NMC fails nurses on almost every level.
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Anonymous | 17-Oct-2009 4:32 pm
The above comment just makes me want to cry with rage - beaten up and left in cupboard! Do nurses need to have body guards now!
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Anonymous | 17-Oct-2009 5:58 pm
It's sad what happens to people who try to help others and put others first before themselves. They get punished for what?
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Anonymous | 18-Oct-2009 6:30 pm
It is not correct to say that all of the nursing profession supported Margaret Haywood. Unison thought it was correct that she was struck off and has chosen not to report the case on their website.
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Anonymous | 18-Oct-2009 9:40 pm
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that real people and not those groups with their own agenda supported her. The NMC and Unison? Pah! Their agendas are clear and muddied at the same time. Ask most nurses about the NMC and see what really happens. The NMC has such poor management, such poor infrastructure, such poor leadership and such poor guidance that it fails on almost every level. I am ashamed that such a poor and indefensibleorganisation reprensents nurses - I have left nursing as a result. Many of the nurses for whom I have respect have either left or are feeling the same. The good ones are baling, after agonising, as ofte happens with a change of management for the worse.
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Anonymous | 19-Oct-2009 11:54 am
NHS management and the NMC need to get aware of the dangers of whistleblowing (or threatening to) there are some really uncaring people working in care who will do anything to protect themselves against change or efforts to address bad practise. I myself was lied about, had malicious exaggerated allegations made against me and scapegoated and sacked after trying to address issues in an old NHS facility. This unit had 7 Charge Nurses in the space of 5 years who all failed to administer change because of a clique. The clique are still there, and systematically abusing patients on a daily basis. Management not interested. Good nurses just leave these areas and leave "the trash" behind.
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John Dade | 19-Oct-2009 3:42 pm
I think many have been missing the point here. Look at the case in detail from the original hearing. Everyone agrees it was right to highlight the awful conditions in Brighton. But there is a process. The Line manager and ward manager is as far as Margaret went. She could and should have gone all the way to Chief exec. level before the media. She also was asked to take the job through an agency to help with the Panorama programme. Patients or relatives were asked retrospectively for their permission to use the footage. Prior to that she filmed without their knowledge and consent. In some cases other patient conversations can be heard in the background. At the end of the day the Code of Conduct regarding Patient Confidentiality was broken. Margaret no doubt is a caring excellent nurse, but sadly naive.
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kathleen white | 20-Oct-2009 6:54 pm
I think that John (previous comment) is missing a few crucial points.
Does he think that the Chief Executive would act with integrity? Not in my experience. When my line management and union failed to act on breaches in child protection and health & safety issues, reported by me, I sent a detailed report to the chief ex and he did not even reply. Meantime, I was subjected to further intimidation & bullying.
The line manager & ward manager is as far as Margaret should have needed to go.
John
How long does he think that Margaret should have waited for "someone" to protect the abused patients?
I have not heard of any patient or relative complaining about the filming without prior consent. Filming this appaling abuse in Brighton was the only way to put a stop to it. Believe me, senior managers have no hesitation in lying when such matters are investigated through their policies. High on rhetoric-Low on integrity.
Margaret was courageous and we need more like her. I would certainly feel safer going into a hospital if I knew that Margaret worked there.
Kathleen White
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Anonymous | 21-Oct-2009 12:03 pm
Do not be deceived - the NMC is not the nurses friend - it is an incompetent organisation that pretends to protect the public using your registration fees . No matter how many " jolly " publications it sends you trying to tel you otherwise - they are not on your side at all when it comes to issues like Margaret or any complaint made by an employer . They believe the complainant -( usually an employer) from the outset and they are incompetent and perverse in the fitness to practise decisions along with taking inordinate time to process these matters that lack transparency . The amount the NMC spends employing lawyers to investigate fitness to practice is enormous and it is in those lawyers interests, financially ,to drag any proceedings out as long as possible - The NMC funded by your registration fees are a complete cash cow to unscrupulous lawyers . It is time we started shouting about this - the medics wouldn't put up with it from the GMC.
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Carol Cleeton | 21-Oct-2009 10:15 pm
I can ubderstand anyone being angry at the support given to whistleblowers by the NMC. Nil!! This is how it has always been and this is how it will stay. I agree that the NMC as an organisation is weak, without giving any support to registrants. This is why I work overseas. I think that nurses within the UK are poorly represented on all fronts, both from nursing unions and the NMC. Wake up UK before the nursing profession dies in your hands!! This is only a matter of time
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Anonymous | 22-Oct-2009 1:36 pm
So Unison didn't support her. How disgraceful and how disgraceful of the NMC as well. I will be leaving Unison (certainly won't be joining the RCN either).

The NHS at senior and middle management level is staffed by brown nosing yes men....always has been. They claim to support whistle blowing but in truth detest it as it shows up their own faults and weakness.

As for those nurses who think it was correct for her to be struck off..shame on you.
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Anonymous | 22-Oct-2009 7:36 pm
Typically the people that think that "channels" should be followed are the people that have never been in that position themselves. I remember being on a ward as a childrens nurse and when I wanted to do a safeguarding referral and involve social services I was told "not to bother" as Social services would do nothing, in an ideal world whistleblowing shouldn't have been necessary - but we live in the real world and are not wearing rose tinted glasses.
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Anonymous | 23-Oct-2009 1:25 pm
When I reported my concerns to the divisional manager I was put out to grass, and eventually left the trust to work somewhere else.

Let's face it, no manager wants to hear about something going wrong - they are mostly not from a clinical background, and I am not sure that having a clinical background provides a safeguard against abuse.

The divisional manager went so far as to agree that there was an element of overtreatment among the older patients, but the fact was that a 23 bed, surgical ward had been turned into one for chronic and terminally ill patients within 6 months of a certain consultant joining the trust. Patients who had been turned down for radical surgery because of their age, or because the tumour had spread to other organs, or because of the recurrence of the disease despite several attempts at surgery to cure, did not improve the patient's chances, but at least kept the patient in hospital (the relatives were relieved, the doctors got a chance to learn to operate, but as the joke goes, the operation was a success, but the patient died!!!

NHS managers are not there to ensure patients safety, they are there to keep spending within the budget.

Whistleblowers within the NHS do not get any support - they are isolated, and eventually get fed up and go elsewhere, if they have any sense - those who are foolish enough to take the trust to court face having their careers ended - Trusts have huge budgets at their disposal, the little man/woman who tries to get justice has to give up any career within the NHS if they ever think of taking their employer to tribunals, or to court.

It might sound as if you are giving up, but better give up on your principles, than facing the rest of your life without meaningful employment, would be my advice to any potential whisteblower - the system is set up to stop you doing anything about it - ask anyone who has tried to get to the bottom of how their relative has died before their time, as a result of negligence, wrong medication, treatment or any problem within the system.
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Anonymous | 24-Oct-2009 10:32 am
The NMC is yet again being recognised for what it is: a weak, ineffectual structure managed by unskilled people with their own agendas making inappropriate decisions about issues about which they know little or nothing. And Nurses are obliged to belong to it. No wonder so many are leaving.
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Anonymous | 26-Oct-2009 1:12 pm
I find it very sad that as supposedly professional people, nurses are 'governed' by such an ineffectual body such as the NMC. They will strike a nurse from the register for doing something which was eithically the correct thing to do when 'reporting' the issue had been ineffectual. However, the same body have not even suspended a nurse I know of who was at the centre of a serious SUI leading to the death of a patient and who falsified records. I concurr with some of the comments about many (but not all), NHS managers not having a clue about what really constitutes good nursing and will ignore issues rather than own up to errors and failures. Where is our pride? Gone with all the caring and sensitivity!!! I am heading for early retirement if I can get it, as I am so ashamed of many of my fellow nurses who can condone such bad care and yet punish those that stand up as advocate for those unable to do so for themselves. If we can do our jobs properly there should be less cause for whistleblowing anyway!
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Jane Wright | 26-Oct-2009 1:14 pm
So glad to see Margaret Haywood reinstated but why the 1 year caution? Do they think she will make public other bad practice? I suspect the one year caution was a face saving sanction for the NMC. Pathetic...as if Ms Haywood hadn't been through enough.
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Anonymous | 26-Oct-2009 3:40 pm
A note on indemnity insurance and self protection. I was in dispute with Trust over bullying and breaking employment laws - I asked RCN for help with legal cover - was informed that legal services were not there for me to sue employer for wrong doing - when I asked why I had been paying subs for 20 odd years was told I´m only covered if I damage a patient but not if my employer abuses me.
I left RCN and tried to get Indemnity insurance as individual nurse - what a nightmare! Why can´t Nurses organise and set up own insurance cover without having to get embroilled with organisations they don´t have any faith in.
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Anonymous | 30-Oct-2009 11:37 pm
I think some are missing the point here. Rather than reflecting on "whats the point, nothing gets done attitude", we need to seriously stop, take stock and learn from past misakes.

As an NHS whstleblower in a high profile case who was bullied, isolated and character assignated as a result of raising concerns about patient safety by everyone from board to door, I followed the correct procedure, and I suffered in so many ways, but at least I can put my head on my pillow at night and sleep, knowing I did everything in my power to protect the patients I served.

Having been to hell and back, let's not look back, let's start learning.

The RCN do not support you, they did not support me over my case (right from the start, they buried they heads in the sand, yet churn out a 25,000 sign petetion on whistle blowing the following week. The RCN play political lip service. Check your home insurance policies - that's what funded my legal fees!

Although the Public Interest Disclosure Act (1998) provides you with significant protection in law, it only kicks in once you have suffered detriments as a result of whistle blowing.

The government are in denial over whistleblowing in the NHS and continue to hide behind that Trust Hospitals who claim to have 'robust' Whistle Blowing policies in place. At the end of the day our politicans are asking health care professionals to go to their employers and tell them they are failing the patients and to investigate and report back their findings - bitter pill to swallow for some Trusts (but not all).

Look at the nurse, dammed if you do, damed if you don't. Maybe the NMC were harsh on Margaret Haywood. Maybe they did not send the right message out to the profession, but when push comes to shove, Margaret Haywood did breach her Code of Conduct (read the case). Trust me, as a whistle blower, I was taken aback by my fellow nursing colleagues and senior managers who harressed and bullied me, only to found out to be liars in court when cross-examined.

All the stakeholders I have mentioned above, need to come together and start learning fast, so the profession can have the confidence to raise concerns without repraisals - we do not need another Mid-Staff or Bristol Childrens tragegy.

MAYBE ITS TIME FOR A NATIONAL INDEPENDENT ORGANISATION TO BE ESTABLISED TO INVESTIGATE WHISTLEBLOWING CASES - TRUST ME, IT WILL SAVE THE DoH millions - but most of all it will save our patients!

My message to the DoH - its now time to protect the patients please!!
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Anonymous | 31-Oct-2009 1:48 pm
Surely it is time to hear what is being said: the NMC milks nurses, who have no choice but to belong; the RCN milks nurses with hidden clauses and sly promises of union protection; nurses are vulnerable. There are some god-awful "nurses" out there who continue to practice as a direct result of the ineptitude and greed of the umbrella organisations, and some damn good ones who are lost to the services ditto. Get real, people - look long and hard at the structures behind nursing, and weep.
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Anonymous | 7-Nov-2009 4:01 am
I left my trust as an hca to be a stident nurse, because of bullying on the ward I worked when I reported it on my leavers form HR explained there was nothing they could do.
I still do bank Hca work and have had to take a pay cut from top of band 3 pay scale to top of band 2 pay scale and expected to work as a band 3 this was from July 2009, when I questioned it I was told thats how the trust works now. I even reported it to RCN who never replied to me.
I even turned up to a night shift to find the ward did not need me, I ended up going home again I have a 10 min bus ride to the train station then a 40 min walk to my house I got home just passed 2300 hrs when informed the bank office manager of this I never even got an apology, but if I had done something the trust did not like I would not have heard the last of it.
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