A student nurse who complained about the poor treatment of elderly patients at Stafford Hospital has been forced off her training course.
Barbara Allatt told of a ‘culture of bullying’ during placements at Stafford Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, both part of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust which was the subject of an inquiry into between 400 and 1,200 unexpected deaths at the trust between 2005 and 2008.
Two years after the inquiry, Miss Allatt reported seeing colleagues leave patients in soiled sheets, shout at dementia sufferers and secretly slip sedatives into a cup of tea. She reported her concerns to university tutors, hospital mentors and senior nurses but claims she was ‘fobbed off’.
She had been a good student who had passed her exams and received glowing reports from her work placements but in January she was suspended due to her ‘behaviour, attitude and fitness to practice’. She was supported by the Royal College of Nursing but lost two appeals and subsequently lost her place on the course.
Miss Allatt is planning to sue the university for breaching the Public Interest Disclosure Act which is aimed at protecting whistleblowers. She also intends taking legal action against the trust for bullying.
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