My colleague, Lorna Kenyon-Pain, in our regulatory team recently commented on the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection report concerning the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAS) and the fundamental problems in the organisation’s culture.

At Anthony Collins Solicitors, we see the wide impact of a harmful culture where staff are fearful to raise concerns about the standard of care and, when they do, their concerns are dismissed. We represent organisations that provide care, employees within those organisations and also the patient or resident who receives their care.

As the CQC found at SECAS, the staff were doing their very best to provide safe care to patients. The problem was the underlying problem in the organisation’s culture: 'Staff described feeling unable to raise concerns without fear of reprisal - and when concerns were raised, these were not acted on.'

Without doubt, this deep-rooted organisational problem will cause harm to staff and patients alike. Anthony Collins Solicitors represented a nurse who developed a psychological injury as a result of being wrongfully blamed for the death of a child. She tried to raise concerns at the time - much like the CQC found in this report - but her concerns were dismissed out of hand by the doctor treating the child at the time. Tragically the child died as a result. 

All health organisations registered with the CQC are under a legal duty to be open and honest with patients and their families when something goes wrong which appears to have caused significant harm or might cause harm in the future. This is called the 'duty of candour'. However, the organisation's culture might mean patients are not always told. When a patient or their family have a gut instinct that the care was not as it should have been, it could be helpful for them to speak with a clinical negligence specialist solicitor. Our frequently asked questions page explains more about this.

We offer a free, no-obligation initial discussion. We will listen to your concerns, explain your options and discuss with you how we could help. Please feel free to get in touch.