Being sued for being rude

Reports of substandard care within the NHS are, sadly, part of our modern narrative. The Kirkup report into serious maternity care failings at the hospital in Morecambe Bay found that the unit was ‘dysfunctional’: ‘many clinical staff were failing to provide an acceptable quality of care in an environment of trust and respect.’ (Kirkup, 2015: 64).

A Care Quality Commission report into another Trust (CQC, 2011: 62) stated that:

‘One midwife told us that she had overheard a colleague say to a woman in labour: “Hurry up or I'll cut you”. Another midwife told us that she was ashamed to work at the unit and hadn't realised how poor practice was until she observed care at another hospital.’

The report noted (CQC, 2011: 7):

‘The trust receives a high number of complaints about the quality of patients' experience in maternity services, especially with regard to poor staff attitude.’