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Hospital excludes 4 members of staff from work
following whistle blowing complaints
SOUTHPORT and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust (the Trust) have excluded from
work four members of staff, the Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, Human
Resources Director and Deputy Director of Performance. The exclusions follow an
independent external investigation into 3 separate whistle blowing complaints
received by the Trust.
No aspect of the whistle blowing complaints or investigation related to issues of
patient care or safety.
The 4 employees are excluded whilst an internal investigation is conducted.
Exclusion from work is not a disciplinary sanction, but is a holding action
pending the completion of an investigation. During the investigation the Trust
will be unable to comment further as it relates to both employment matters and
an ongoing investigation. The decision to exclude the 4 employees was
unanimously agreed by the Chair and the 6 non-executive directors on the Trust
Board with support from the NHS Trust Development Authority.
Sue Musson, Chair of the Trust said:- "In response to the three whistleblowing complaints made to the Trust and the subsequent independent
external investigation by the Good Governance Institute it has been necessary to
exclude three senior executives and one other employee.
I want to stress to our patients, their families and the public that no aspect
of the complaints, the investigation that has taken place and the exclusion of
the four employees are related to issues of patient care or patient safety.
This action will not affect the healthcare services provided by the Trust to our
patients. An internal investigation will now begin in line with our disciplinary
policy. With immediate effect Ann Marr, Chief Executive of St Helens and
Knowsley Teaching Hospital NHS Trust and Gaynor Hayles, Associate Director of
Nursing at the NHS Trust Development Authority will be assisting the trust.
Ann will be providing leadership within the Trust in the Accountable Officer
role on an interim basis. Gaynor will be supporting Ann in this role, overseeing
a variety of functions including that of Chief Operating Officer, again on an
interim basis. Both Ann and Gaynor will be continuing with their current roles
whilst supporting the Trust.
Ann comes with a strong track record in running hospitals in the North West. We
are pleased to be able to have someone of Ann's calibre as an experienced and
long standing Chief Executive to support the other members of the Executive
Management Team in the day to day running of the Trust. Sheila Samuels will work
with the Trust to provide Interim Director of Human Resources support in the
short term whilst investigations are ongoing. Sheila is an experienced health
and local government sector professional, this has included working as an
Executive Director in the NHS covering governance and human resources. Whilst
this is a serious employment issue for the Trust, our priority is, and remains,
providing quality healthcare in hospital and the community to the 258,000 people
across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire whom we serve."
Ann, Gaynor and Sheila will join the existing executive director team of Damian
Reid our Director of Finance, Rob Gillies Executive Medical Director and Simon
Featherstone Director of Nursing, Quality and Risk. |
