{"id":222859,"date":"2023-09-29T19:24:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allworldreport.com\/?p=222859"},"modified":"2023-09-29T19:24:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:24:33","slug":"nhs-whistleblower-told-he-was-an-unacceptable-risk-to-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allworldreport.com\/world-news\/nhs-whistleblower-told-he-was-an-unacceptable-risk-to-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS whistleblower told he was an &apos;unacceptable risk&apos; to patients"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>NHS consultant credited with saving life of Broadchurch star Sarah Parish was &#8216;astonished&#8217; when chief executive claimed he was an &#8216;unacceptable risk&#8217; to patients after he blew whistle over young mother&#8217;s death, tribunal hears<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Martyn Pitman was told by chief executive she had no evidence to back up claim<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The consultant said he suffered over four years of &#8216;disruptive victimisation&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0Broadchurch star Sarah Parish calls for sacked doctor who saved her life giving birth to be reinstated\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An NHS consultant who raised concerns a young mother&#8217;s death in childcare had been the result of clinical negligence told a tribunal he was stunned when the trust&#8217;s chief executive then said he was an &#8216;unacceptable risk&#8217; to patient safety.<\/p>\n<p>When obstetrician Martyn Pitman questioned Alex Whitfield about what evidence she had of this, to his &#8216;astonishment&#8217; she replied &#8216;I don&#8217;t have any&#8217;, an employment tribunal heard.<\/p>\n<p>The consultant of 20 years, with an &#8216;exemplary&#8217; clinical record, claims he was forced out of his job when he blew the whistle on poor care putting patients at risk and causing the woman&#8217;s death in childbirth.<\/p>\n<p>The 57-year-old alleges he was subjected to a &#8216;vexatiously lodged&#8217; disciplinary investigation for blowing the whistle in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The senior doctor claimed the tragic death of the young mother &#8211; 32 year old Lucy Howell &#8211; came as a &#8216;direct result&#8217; of managers failing to address his concerns of falling standards in the department at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/18\/75988711-12576371-image-m-24_1696009122754.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Martyn Pitman claims he was forced out of his job after whistleblowing on inadequate care putting patients at risk<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/18\/75988689-12576371-image-m-29_1696009681354.jpg\" height=\"906\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman was sacked from Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester after he raised concerns about a mother Lucy Powell&#8217;s death in childcare, but was told by the trust&#8217;s chief executive that she had no evidence to back up her claim he was an &#8216;unacceptable risk&#8217; to patient safety<\/p>\n<p>He said he and colleagues also flagged &#8216;dangerously low staffing levels&#8217; which he claimed had led to &#8216;evidence of deteriorating standards of care&#8230; which posed a direct threat to patient safety&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>In March this year, Mr Pitman was sacked from his job at Royal Hampshire County hospital (RHCH) in Winchester, Hampshire.<\/p>\n<p>He is now suing the &#8216;deficient&#8217; Trust and Chief Medical Officer Lara Alloway at the tribunal, claiming he was fired for making a &#8216;public interest disclosure&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He claims his dismissal came after he was &#8216;subjected to brutal retaliatory victimisation&#8217; which left him with clinical depression.<\/p>\n<p>Since his sacking, more than 1,500 patients and co-workers have rallied to support him, including actress Sarah Parish.<\/p>\n<p>Broadchurch actress Parish, 55, tragically lost baby Ella-Jayne in 2009, but said Dr Pitman&#8217;s subsequent care for her following two pregnancies &#8216;saved not only my life, but certainly my daughter&#8217;s life&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman&#8217;s tribunal follows the case of serial killer nurse Lucy Letby, who murdered seven infants and attempted to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n<p>After her trial it emerged senior doctors had repeatedly tried to raise the alarm with NHS managers about her being a potential danger but their concerns were dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>Giving evidence at the hearing in Southampton, Mr Pitman said: &#8216;It is impossible, in my mind, to divorce my whistleblowing from the formal disciplinary procedure against me and what resulted from it.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h3>READ MORE:\u00a0&#8216;He&#8217;s the very reason why I&#8217;m here and my daughter is here&#8217;: Broadchurch star Sarah Parish calls for sacked doctor who saved her life giving birth to be reinstated<\/h3>\n<p>After being suspended from work, having raised a complaint, Mr Pitman returned in September 2020, the hearing was told.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My reintroduction was managed in a vindictive nature,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That was probably the most professionally damaging.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was probably a bit like a pressure cooker. I knew what was coming.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was accused of not being competent by two senior consultants in a job that I had done for years &#8211; I was a mess.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;To my astonishment, having not been found guilty in the investigation, my job had been changed, which remains a mystery to me.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>In February 2021, Mr Pitman emailed senior members of the Trust to highlight the &#8216;destructive handling&#8217; of his case.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman hit out at the Trust&#8217;s &#8216;litany of deficiencies&#8217; in handling his case, saying they &#8216;did not genuinely support whistleblowing&#8217; and there was an &#8216;endemic culture of managerial bullying&#8217; within it.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he thought he had done the right thing in 2019 and would do the same again, he answered: &#8216;Yes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Because as a consultant of 17 years and standing there was and is [that culture].<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I still stand by that now.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The hearing was told Mr Pitman had likened his case with Amin Abdullah, an NHS nurse who took his own life after being dismissed from Charing Cross Hospital in London.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman added: &#8216;There is a correlation between my case and that at Charing Cross.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There are chilling similarities between the handling of nurse Abdullah&#8217;s case and mine.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/18\/75988717-12576371-image-m-28_1696009665644.jpg\" height=\"768\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The consultant of 20 years hit back at the Trust and what he called its culture of &#8216;managerial bullying&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When it was put to him the cases were very different and his comparison &#8216;opportunistic&#8217;, Mr Pitman told the hearing his treatment had taken its toll on his mental health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Management of my case caused aggravated clinical depression,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman has told the hearing he raised concerns about the death in March 2021 of Mrs Howell and suggested it may have been due to clinical negligence.<\/p>\n<p>At his grievance conclusion meeting four months later in July 2021, Mr Pitman was told no aspects of his case had been upheld but other concerns had been raised that &#8216;needed a further discussion&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The Chief Executive of the Trust proceeded to claim that my return to the department, which I believe I had served with great distinction, posed an unacceptable risk to patient safety,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>An incredulous Mr Pitman said he had resorted to a disbelieving laugh, adding: &#8216;I said &#8216;what shred of evidence have you got?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The response was &#8216;at the moment I don&#8217;t have any&#8217;.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman said the &#8216;libellous and astonishing&#8217; statement led him to believe the &#8216;writing was on the wall&#8217; and he was being forced out.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8216;There is a toxic managerial structure at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman told the tribunal that in a bid to voice concerns about how his whistleblowing case had been managed he had worked his way up the pyramid of bosses within the Trust before realising the &#8216;deficiency ran throughout the organisation&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/18\/75988777-12576371-image-m-51_1696010090937.jpg\" height=\"525\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman said the &#8216;libellous and astonishing&#8217; statement led him to believe the &#8216;writing was on the wall&#8217; and he was being forced out, and broke down while addressing the tribunal panel after saying he was put through &#8216;four and a half years of disruptive victimisation&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the panel, he said: &#8216;I realise it sounds as though this guy is complaining about everybody &#8211; and I accept that, because there is a legitimate need to.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pitman broke down as he told how he had been put through &#8216;four and a half years of disruptive victimisation&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;m hoping that this is proving that,&#8217; the married father of two added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I said to the Chief Executive, you are pushing me into a position where I have nothing left to lose, I&#8217;ve lost my career, I can&#8217;t provide for my family any more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I didn&#8217;t want this to happen.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He claims he suffered a detriment due to exercising rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.<\/p>\n<p>The employment tribunal continues.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12576371\/NHS-consultant-saving-life-Broadchurch-star-Sarah-Parish-astonished-chief-executive-unacceptable-risk-patients-blew-whistle-young-mothers-death-tribunal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NHS consultant credited with saving life of Broadchurch star Sarah Parish was &#8216;astonished&#8217; when chief executive claimed&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NHS whistleblower told he was an &amp;apos;unacceptable risk&amp;apos; to patients - All World Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allworldreport.com\/world-news\/nhs-whistleblower-told-he-was-an-unacceptable-risk-to-patients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NHS whistleblower told he was an &amp;apos;unacceptable risk&amp;apos; to patients - All World Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NHS consultant credited with saving life of Broadchurch star Sarah Parish was &#8216;astonished&#8217; 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