GROUPS acting as a voice for patients are to meet with hospital bosses to discuss allegations of bullying.
Last week, the Mail spoke to a former employee of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, who said staff bullying was rife and morale was at an all-time low.
Councillor Mike Whitehead, a former general manager of critical care and surgery, said staff fear for their jobs if they speak out against managers and many are not prepared to make their concerns known.
A "bullying culture" was also highlighted in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report published in May, after inspectors visited Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.
On the back of the CQC report, the trust has sought the services of ACAS, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, to help address the issue.
Now, the chairmen of Healthwatch Hull and Healthwatch East Riding will hold a crisis meeting with the trust's interim chief executive, John Saxby, to voice their concerns.
Ian Blakey, chairman of Healthwatch Hull, said: "We are extremely concerned by the allegations of bullying.
"Clearly, patients will not receive a good service when staff are feeling bullied and under extreme pressure.
"We welcome the trust's action to bring in ACAS to examine the allegations independently and enable staff to raise their concerns.
"Healthwatch will monitor this situation.
"A meeting has been arranged between myself, Richard Davies, who is the chairman of Healthwatch East Riding, and John Saxby to discuss Healthwatch's concerns with services at the trust, raised by the recent CQC report.
"This item will be on the agenda for this meeting."
Since the Mail spoke to Mr Whitehead last week, the East Riding councillor says more staff members have come forward to speak out about bullying.
He said: "I've had individuals and people acting on behalf of groups of staff coming to me to speak about their experiences.
"The people who are coming forward work in all levels of the trust, but the majority are low to middle-grade staff.
"The way they aren't respected and they don't feel like their grievances are being taken seriously is disgusting."
A spokesman for Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said the allegations are being taken very seriously.
They said: "Since the feedback on our CQC inspection report was first delivered on May 2, there has been an agreement between the trust, the two local Healthwatch organisations and a number of other local health partners to work together to address the issues raised in the report.
"Concerns around bullying will be just one of the issues we will seek to address collectively, along with others such as pressures on emergency care services and reducing the number of outpatient appointment cancellations."
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