If such a policy / guideline / instruction can be found in written document anywhere in NHS Fife ( or NH Scotland ) then it will allow everyone in management to say
“ I was only folllowing policy / doing what I was told by my line manager. IANAL it’s my job to implement board policy not question it . “
And I suspect they are right. If a clinician is told to do something by a manager that they believe will adversely affect the welfare of a patient ( and interferes with their clinical judgement ) , they have a duty to report it ( eg treat that man before you treat that woman, don’t give that patient x treatment ).
I don’t think non clinical staff have a professional duty to report it/ disagree with board policy if it adversely affects some groups of staff .
And of course , the underlying implication here from the HB is that it didn’t affect all women ( which would include DU) , just this one difficult, trump supporting ,stroppy , transphobic, working class , middle aged woman who would not just STFU and do as she was told.
No wonder they are desperately trying to find evidence that she put patients at risk . Maybe the dog ate it ? Or the emails got deleted by mistake? Or the file got corrupted?
If DU suddenly finds it on his phone / down the sofa, he has acted in a way that will put him before Fitness to Practise, as he’s sat on it for more than a year. It should have been reported immediately.
It will be the same for Dr Kate Searle. She can’t argue that SP was a risk to patients at the same time as asking her to work different shifts in a different hospital. “being under supervision “ doesn’t mean that someone follows you into every cubicle watching what you do.