Culture of bullying at Birmingham hospital prevented staff from reporting high cardiac death rates

An NHS hospital under investigation for its high mortality rates from cardiac surgery saw a culture of bullying develop that prevented staff from speaking out against poor care, a damning report has found.

The report, from the Care Quality Commission (CQC),1 detailed the findings of an inspection at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which was ordered after more patients died from cardiac surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital than would have been expected.

As The BMJ reported last week,2 the hospital was told to submit weekly returns on its cardiac surgery mortality after the inspection in December 2015.

In the final report published on 8 March, the CQC said …