making it one of the highest rated specialist trusts in the country. today, however, that outstanding run came to an end. in a critical report today, the cqc downgraded the trust to overall good . within that overall rating, the safe measure has dropped from good to requires improvement . however, the biggest drop came on the question of whether the trust is well led. this has gone from outstanding to requires improvement . the report said very senior executives were heavily invested in the promotion and protection of the trust s reputation. this impacted negatively on some staff. staff did not always feel supported and valued. a minority of staff expressed reservations about raising concerns and others did not always feel listened to. even though this cqc inspection was supposed to be unannounced, newsnight understands that hospital managers went to great lengths to try to control
and to intimidate staff to. you know, not to speak up, or maybe not to speak openly about leadership. rebecca and others wrote to the cqc to warn that the inspectors were only getting a carefully controlled and inaccurate picture and that the trust was covering up significant problems. what that resulted in is the cqc then held off site sessions for people to come anonymously and to speak to them. and i think that was managed by the central cqc. when staff felt safe to speak out, the cqc got a completely different picture of the trust from the feelings of some of its staff. roger kline is a health service academic and expert on workplace culture. it is a culture that is unwelcoming of people raising concerns. and if they are persistent, or they are concerns that get too
the inspection process, trying to limit who got to speak to the inspectors and, we were told by christie staff, attempting to intimidate those who might want to be critical. rebecca wight is an advanced nurse practitioner. she is taking the christie to an employment tribunal after leaving at the end of last year, shortly after the cqc inspections. she says they were manipulated by senior trust managers. it is absolutely diabolical. the well led inspection was basically run by the christie. the cqc requested a few forums with clinical staff. those forums were infiltrated by leaders. the forum i went to, it was attended by senior leaders in the executive team. the forums were held in the executive headquarters, in a glass walled room, and it was basically the christie s way of infiltrating the forums
supported, valued or listened to. roger kline says the downgrading of the trust from outstanding to requires improvement on the well led metric means senior managers at the christie should not remain in post. i think for a trust like the christie, a small, specialist trust, any form of downgrading is a significant problem. if it is downgraded in one step, that is a significant problem. to be downgraded two steps, i think the board ought to be looking for a new chief executive. the trust denied there was any intimidation by its leaders during the inspection and said. it added. indeed, the cqc emphasised that the trust is still outstanding
to private investors. if you re struggling - with your mental health. the priory group gets hundreds of millions of pounds a year from the nhs and local council to provide care for adults and children. there s a huge demand for its services. a recent report by the cqc into the group found staff were very proud to work there and noted a positive change in culture since the sell off. but it also said there was extremely high staff turnover , which in some services was having an impact on the quality and safety of ca re . the priory group wouldn t give us an interview or statement, but their lawyers told us it: