Dr Ravi Jayaram, one of the doctors who warned senior staff of Lucy Letby at Chester Hospital, reflects on what must change within the NHS to protect patients.
Writing his personal account for ITV News, Dr Ravi Jayaram, a consultant paediatrician at the Countess of Chester hospital, discusses why NHS medics who have concerns must be listened to.
I wanted to know how many other medics are having their warnings ignored, so Paul and I have been on a journey talking to others who have felt silenced.manager, when made aware of issues potentially affecting patient safety, would react in any other way than to investigate those issues and work with their teams to improve things.It appears that there is an NHS management culture that believes if concerns are raised about the service then this will reflect badly on their abilities.
Many of the concerns raised have not led to actual patient harm because much of the time the concerns raised are about reducing the risk of harm. Managers in the NHS work in very difficult circumstances, having to balance the need for the best quality of care with financial restraints over which they have no control.However, when clinical staff feel that their concerns have not been listened to and try to escalate things, they all too often feel like there is nowhere else for them to go.
As part of this, the selection processes and qualifications for senior executive level NHS managers need to be reviewed and revised, and there needs to be greater accountability in terms of their appraisal, development, and performance.
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