IT was May Hendry’s job to alert the health board to potential dental fraud and misconduct in order to protect both patients and the public purse.
In doing so however, she became the target of “untrue vexacious complaints” by two Ayrshire dentists suspected of wrongdoing, and was increasingly isolated as senior NHS executives closed ranks to “appease” them.
Read more: Dentist faces huge legal bill despite tribunal victory
Her victory at the employment tribunal may not have come with a cash windfall, but Dr Hendry says she takes “real solace” in a judgement that was so damning of the health board. And it certainly was.
John Burns, NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s chief executive, “failed to protect [Dr Hendry] from untrue allegations of dishonesty made by Michael Morrow and his solicitor when he knew these allegations to be untrue”.
Amid concerns over misclaiming at Donald Morrison’s practice, Mr Burns met with Mr Morrison, his wife, and the Dental Practice Committee chairman “without a notetaker being present”.
Alison Graham, the health board’s medical director, “tried to take over” the investigation into Mr Morrison’s practice “either to conceal the finding of £300,000 misclaimed, or to protect Donald Morrison with whom she had a conflict of interest”.
Read more: NHS Ayrshire whistleblower takes gagging clause case to Scottish Parliament
The judgement noted that both Mr Burns and Ms Graham were “guarded” in their evidence to the tribunal in contrast to Dr Hendry’s “honest, straightforward and candid manner”.
Taxpayers and patients rely on NHS executives to manage resources efficiently and fairly. Yet here was a scenario where they gave "preferential treatment" to dentists implicated in wrongdoing while doing nothing to stop them slandering Dr Hendry.
This sort of dysfunction is not unique to NHS Ayrshire and Arran, but it does have form.
Read more: Dentist faces huge legal bill despite tribunal victory
In 2012, whistleblower Rab Wilson won a five-year freedom of information battle to force the health board to release all its serious incident reports back to January 2005. Initially it said there were none, but was eventually forced to disclose all 56 reports - including 20 relating to patient deaths.
In 2017, it emerged that it had carried out just seven Serious Adverse Event Reviews (SAERs) since 2013, compared to 33 in Orkney. This is not a sign of superior care, but of a culture of suppression which would rather cover up problems than learn from them.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel