Remind me not to do the lottery this year!
I'd been unemployed for the longest time in my working history, finally finding a job in October 2009 as a Health Care Worker in a secure hospital for people with learning disability and mental illness. Royal Mail's "Gross Misconduct" charge fading into history and my prospects brightening, I thought. But alas.........
The job promised to utilise my skills and knowledge in mental health by placing me in what was known as the Rehabilitation Unit; 'Florence View' ward. The training, prior to my appointment , did leave me feeling slightly uneasy. It consisted mainly on detecting risks posed by patients wishing to start fires and to attack staff members using some very devious methods! Most of the 'Breakaway' techniques consisted of Tae Kwon-do holds and restraints. Not psychological approaches when trying to engage people, just ways of how to keep them still whilst being injected! Still, I thought it would be an interesting challenge.
I was interviewed, offered the post and directed to the ward upon which I was to be a health care worker on. The marketing bilge vomited the "Active Care" programme which would be more evident on this ward than any other. I read what I could find on the programme and got quite excited that I might be involved in making a better future for the patients. (Can you feel it coming?) But alas.....
What was not taken into account was the senior management. Both of African origin, (and that is significant in this instance!), they had an autocratic style of management that went beyond 'reasonable'. My new ward manager was an individual with some thirty years clinical experience, the senior nurse in charge had some seven years working with personality disorders and dementias and I have some thirteen years working in mental health. We had a couple of young men keen to learn and so much to offer. One was a football coach the other just very keen. Not any longer!
The two senior staff were forced to resign because of some pretty serious shenanigans from the management above; Clinical decisions being "overruled" by directors who were not on the ward to make any kind of judgement, staff members moved to other wards for no apparent reason leaving Florence View staff vulnerable and unsafe, unethical admissions, blackmailing staff to make them comply with unethical practices, the list is endless! And all for profit.
Now, as far as I'm aware, the Care Quality Commission, the body responsible for ensuring good practice in the private health care sector, have received many complaints about these people but appear to have done nothing about them. The Royal College of Nursing, a body supposedly in place to protect their nurses, have also received many complaints about this company but have done nothing. So what can we do?
Why was I sacked? Because I had the gall to refuse to be moved to another ward leaving my colleagues in a dangerous position. I had the nerve to challenge Beulah Nayatoro, the senior manager, on information about a patient that had been admitted to our ward with no care plan in place. But the final reason boils down to an opportunist patient who had a history of leaving the premises whilst on a 'Section 3'. He managed to elude me and wander off down the town. Apparently, he doesn't really want to leave the hospital!
Professional bullying is a crime, is it not? The problem is proving it.
Take my last act at the hospital;
I was contracted to work on Florence View. I go into work after a three day shift gap, to be told I've now been moved to Oak Tree Lodge, the most difficult ward. The ward manager wasn't expecting me and said; "Why send you here? What help are you to me? You don't know the routine and you don't know the patients. How are you of any use to me?" Beulah's instructions. I was then placed on a one-to-one observation of the most difficult patient on the ward! Some of the other patients were escorted out for the afternoon to the bowling ally leaving just three members of staff; Myself, another male staff member on a one-to-one with another difficult patient and a cook locked in the kitchen. There were two other patients who did not want to go bowling, so the ratio was four patients, two of them prone to violence, and two members of staff, both of whom were on half-hourly observations of their respective charges. At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon I was told to attend a meeting with Darsana and a member of the HR office and told simply to hand in my keys and leave! I mentioned the fact that they would be leaving my colleague with two very difficult patients and two in need of hourly observations. Not my problem any more, apparently! So I duly left!
The letter I received a few days later explained that there were some "performance issues" over the last few months that meant I was not "up to the standard required" for the post! No telling how those performance issues were monitored, or by whom, nor by what criteria! Obviously I was a threat. Not good to have someone in post who has some knowledge of what the job entailed, eh? Difficult to hide incompetence and greed from this sort of person. A couple of my colleagues who left just before me are taking action against these bullies and I may well join them. I'll keep this blog posted!
Professional bullying is a crime, is it not? The problem is proving it.
Take my last act at the hospital;
I was contracted to work on Florence View. I go into work after a three day shift gap, to be told I've now been moved to Oak Tree Lodge, the most difficult ward. The ward manager wasn't expecting me and said; "Why send you here? What help are you to me? You don't know the routine and you don't know the patients. How are you of any use to me?" Beulah's instructions. I was then placed on a one-to-one observation of the most difficult patient on the ward! Some of the other patients were escorted out for the afternoon to the bowling ally leaving just three members of staff; Myself, another male staff member on a one-to-one with another difficult patient and a cook locked in the kitchen. There were two other patients who did not want to go bowling, so the ratio was four patients, two of them prone to violence, and two members of staff, both of whom were on half-hourly observations of their respective charges. At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon I was told to attend a meeting with Darsana and a member of the HR office and told simply to hand in my keys and leave! I mentioned the fact that they would be leaving my colleague with two very difficult patients and two in need of hourly observations. Not my problem any more, apparently! So I duly left!
The letter I received a few days later explained that there were some "performance issues" over the last few months that meant I was not "up to the standard required" for the post! No telling how those performance issues were monitored, or by whom, nor by what criteria! Obviously I was a threat. Not good to have someone in post who has some knowledge of what the job entailed, eh? Difficult to hide incompetence and greed from this sort of person. A couple of my colleagues who left just before me are taking action against these bullies and I may well join them. I'll keep this blog posted!
