At Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) there was a failure of leadership. As part of the response to the Maternity scandal, senior individuals have been replaced. We have heard apologies of sorts and we know performance is improving. However, a culture of institutional denial is not eradicated with a change of personnel and an apology.
Fundamental cultural change is needed and that does not happen easily.
A dysfunctional culture becomes embedded in an organisation because it is normalised. When concerns are raised, there is an instinct to protect the institution. People look the other way. Those who challenge are disparaged, which denies them a credible voice.
As the horrific details of this scandal come to the attention of the public this week, we do not want to hear what SaTH got right. We do not want to hear this was historic. We do not want to be told that those who challenge, damage the institution to the detriment of others. From the Post Office injustice, to Police and Councils tackling CSE, we know that this is what failing institutions say. Inward looking, they see themselves through a corporate filter that obscures reality. They are blind. Good leadership demands an ability to see yourself as others do.
SaTH must begin with an admission that many hundreds of women were failed and no one listened to their voices. To rebuild trust there can be no caveats, platitudes, or defensive denials. We need an honest acknowledgement that what happened was wrong. Until a failing organisation arrives at this point, it is impossible to start again.
Since becoming Telford’s MP in 2015, I regularly met SaTH management. At almost every meeting I was talked at by men who knew better. There was an over-confident complacency that a lack of accountability brings, questions would be batted away with a breezy monologue on a different subject.
Under new management the Trust is improving, but now is not the time to tell us. I urge the new team to be humble, listen to the community they serve, and concentrate their focus on patients and their needs.
