The General Medical Council (GMC) put in place conditions on 18 November 2024 to ensure we improve the experience of Resident Doctors working in our Trust.
Prof Lesley Dwyer, NNUH Chief Executive, said: “We are fully committed to improving the training and experience of all our Resident Doctors and we are very sorry to anyone who has experienced inappropriate behaviour. There is no place for racist, misogynistic or discriminatory behaviour of any kind in our organisation and we are committed to stamping it out – we have encouraged staff to report inappropriate behaviours so that we can take action and we are building on this.
We take very seriously the conditions placed on us by the GMC and all our senior leaders are resolved to make this a great place to work, train and develop.
The Trust has invested in new administrative support for the guardian for safe working hours. We have reinstated our Resident Doctors’ Forum which has wide ranging representation to improve our engagement and to respond in a timely way to concerns and suggestions.
We believe we are also making progress in improving our culture and we will continue to work closely with the GMC and NHS England to improve the experience of our Resident Doctors.
We have recently opened a new doctors’ mess to improve rest and study facilities for our Resident Doctors and we held our first Grand Rounds discussion focused on reducing inappropriate behaviours to promote a safe inclusive workplace for all our staff.”
Dr Bernard Brett, Medical Director, said: “My aim and the aim of our Board is to establish ourselves as the best place to train, learn and develop in the East of England – we want to ensure the best possible developmental experience for all those training in our Trust including our Resident Doctors.
“We recognise that for many of our Resident Doctors the experience they have had with us is far from optimal, whilst we also have many pockets of excellence. We need to ensure there is reliable high-quality training across all our specialties and we have made a £2m investment to increase Resident Doctor numbers in our Trust this year to help reduce workload. Our current action plan has already delivered significant improvements, but it will take time for the impact of these changes and improvements to positively impact on our Resident Doctors and then show in our data.
“We look forward to continuing our work with NHS England to further refine our action plan and to make sure we deliver against it. One key area where we aim to make significant improvements is regarding our organisational culture, this includes a very significant reduction in, with an aim to eliminate all together discrimination, bullying, or harassment which our Board will not tolerate. When specific examples have been given to us, following appropriate processes, we have taken the firmest possible action.”