The NHS is having its Me Too moment – and its boss is right to take action

Most organisations, public or private, large or small, suffer from an institutional tendency to defensiveness in the face of criticism, wrongdoing and crisis.

When things go awry, the instinct is to gather the wagons round and indulge in a cycle of denial, obfuscation and deflection. Examples are plentiful; among those to have made headlines recently in relation to such behaviour are the Post Office, the British royal family, the Red Bull racing team, Thames Water, and various members of the parliamentary Conservative Party.

So it is beyond refreshing that the chief executive of the National Health Service, along with her colleagues, has taken it upon herself to launch a Me Too-style investigation into sexual harassment across that vast organisation. Rather than ignoring stories about abuse of position, or denying the existence of sexual harassment among the near 2 million staff and associated workers employed by the health service, Amanda Pritchard has pre-emptively asked her people directly about their experiences.

She has also taken the opportunity to set out what she is proposing to do about the problems she has found. As Ms Pritchard herself acknowledges, the NHS has its challenges and has suffered some appalling scandals, such as those in maternity care that were uncovered by The Independent. But where she can encourage NHS trusts to do the right thing, she is rightly determined to do so.

We would expect no less from an institution that is so important to the nation. As Ms Pritchard says: “It can be incredibly difficult to speak up, and so I applaud those who have come forward to report unacceptable behaviour – and the powerful reporting in The Independent that has helped further to highlight this issue.” That is exactly the kind of support for whistleblowers that builds on the protections offered by the law and incorporates them into the culture of an organisation.

The evidence of sexual harassment we report today is nonetheless appalling, and indeed unworthy of an organisation devoted to caring for people. The NHS survey suggests that 58,000 staff reported unwarranted sexual approaches from patients or other members of the public last year, and that one in 26 reported having been similarly harassed by a fellow worker. One doctor who reported having been sexually assaulted by a colleague told The Independent that it took 10 months for the hospital to investigate the incident.

The campaign group Surviving in Scrubs relates the story of a trainee GP who reported being raped by a colleague during a night out. She claims that, instead of her alleged attacker being asked to leave the teaching programme, she herself was excused from it. Incidents of groping and the like are all too common.

As Ms Pritchard says, the NHS managers involved need to “take ownership” of such incidents. The media is full of resentful reporting of the salaries and pensions enjoyed by “woke” NHS executives; the public, and NHS staff, have a right to expect them, in return, to rid their trusts of sexual harassment and abuse.

Ms Pritchard, so far as can be seen, is providing exemplary leadership to the NHS, and it is now for her team to implement the system of transparent monitoring she demands, and to ensure that NHS trusts that respond inadequately to complaints about harassment are penalised for poor performance.

The NHS already has a “sexual safety” charter, which sets out guidelines for its trusts. This includes provision for 300 domestic abuse and sexual violence leads across its services. It is time for them to show some results.