NHS Sleaze

[Swingsandslides]

I met a friend for lunch the other day and she was upset. She wants to be a GP, has finished her degree and is currently doing hospital rotations (apparently, I know not what these terms mean). She was upset as all of the consultants in the department she was working in were really sleazy. She said it’s really common to be patted on the bottom or given a slight hug by a consultant. That there are usually a few sleazy ones and a few nice once’s, but she was upset as this department they were all sleazy. She said there’s a real ‘God complex’ going on with consultants and you are supposed to fawn over them.

I am aghast as working in financial services, a senior member of staff giving a junior female member of staff a pat on the bottom would be instant dismissal. A cuddle would be a final warning etc. Was she telling the truth? This sounds truly horrific!

I work for the NHS and it is absolutely not normal. I have never experienced it, witnessed it or heard about it in any of the settings I worked in. Yes, they can be patronising at times, self-centered , disrespectful even but I find it very hard to believe that your friend found that every team has a sex offender in their ranks. It's a complete bollox.
What dis she do about it then? Did she complain? Did she bring it up to anyone's attention? I am guessing no

Sounds like Carry on Doctor. She needs to follow the complaints process.

A friend of mine worked in finance.

She got a large financial payout for sexual harassment.

It is absolutely not normal. Have got through over 30 years of a medical career without it once happening to me. Plus loads of consultants are women now and they don't tend to go in for that sort of behaviour.

Patients yes, colleagues no.

God complex - absolutely but you rapidly learn to ignore that.

I work in mental health and have worked closely over the years with many consultant (psychiatrists). They are generally mostly narcissistic and a law unto themselves in the workplace, but not sex offenders in my experience.

Not my experience at all

Also on the god complex - as a junior doctor you swear you will never be like that.

And then as a senior doctor you catch yourself doing exactly that

I have definitely seen consultants do this. Including one who liked his female ENT trainees to only wear skirts and heels

Blimey, no, that’s not ok. She needs to go to either the operational manager
in her service and/or HR, the consultants have to adhere to the same conduct policies as everyone else in the NHS. She also needs to make her training course aware this is happening as she won’t be the only one affected and it needs to be stopped sharpish. Her Trust should also have a ‘freedom to speak up Guardian’ for whistleblowing if she is feeling nervous about making a formal complaint. In my experience this sort of thing is (now) taken very seriously in the NHS..

Absolutely not normal or acceptable. Has she raised it as an issue? There are numerous ways she can do that if she hasn’t. It’s probably a problem they know about but can’t do very much about until someone formally raises it.

I’ve never seen this or heard of it in over 20 years working for the nhs. She should speak to the deanery and follow the resolution policy for her nhs trust.

There have been news articles over the last couple of years reporting exactly this type of thing. Many medics have seen it as “the norm” for decades. She needs to report it as soon as possible, as what she is experiencing is illegal.

Some teams are worse than others. Ours has consultants who verbally abuse colleagues and regularly get away with it. It wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere. Good luck to your friend and at least she gets to move on rotation
(sorry if this is defeatist but feeling particularly defeated today as we tried to change things and have been blocked again)

We were working with an oncologist and had to drop him due to sexual harassment claims against him.

I think it happens but like most things it's a small pocket of men and an even smaller pocket of women doing it.

Let's hope she goes to HR with some others who are also feeling sexually harassed.

I would suggest she raises it with her Educational supervisor and Director of Medical Education in the first instance and escalate to her training programme director if needed. It's not common, but this does happen. HR tend to be hopeless.

It’s absolutely not normal. She should report it to the Trust of her current placement or her Deanery. Does the hospital trust have a Freedom To Speak Up Champion?

Unfortunately it does happen
And sometimes they get away with it too because the hospitals see them as indispensable, sod the nurses and junior doctors getting grouped and harassed on a regular basis.

This is absolutely not normal. I work in the NHS and it is very professional and inclusive. I have never experienced this in my 25 years of the NHS, however I have witnessed a lack of bedside manner and arrogance.

She needs to report it ASAP.

Just adding to the ranks - female doctor for almost 20 years and have never had this happen to me, nor witnessed it or heard of it happening to anyone else that I know. She must report it

"Almost a third of NHS female surgical staff have been sexually assaulted in the last five years, a new survey has revealed.

The study, published in the British Journal of Surgery (BJS), examined sexual misconduct over the past five years among the UK surgical workforce and found that 63% of women and 23% of men polled have experienced being sexually harassed by colleagues"

Disturbing reading....

Source:
Sky News report

I've worked for the NHS for a long time, and this kind of behaviour, from ALL of the consultants in this particular department, sounds most unusual. Your friend needs to report this immediately. The God complex goes with the job, unfortunately, but no-one needs to fawn over anyone, and definitely refuse to accept any inappropriate touching from anyone.

I worked in the NHS until recently. Never have I experienced anything like this at all, nor have I heard anything like this. If your friend feels able, she should report.

Why not just say doctor sleaze rather than suggesting whole NHS is such?

This. 40+ years.

Are you sure your friend really is a doctor? It sounds like she watched Carry On Nurse and now thinks she can doctor.