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Some NHS managers have tried to prevent doctors from speaking publicly about the shortage of personal protective equipment, they reported to the BBC.
WhistleblowersUK said more than 100 healthcare workers had contacted them since early March, expressing concern about Covid-19 and PPE.
The Health Department said that no one should be prevented from speaking.
But Newsnight has seen evidence of pressure being put on doctors not to share their concerns about PPE.
A newsletter sent to trust staff suggested tweet topics, such as thanking staff for their hard work, paying tribute to retired NHS staff who had returned to the workforce, and retweeting posts from the trust account.
He specified that staff should avoid “commenting on political issues, such as the PPE.”
Another trust put up signs in hospital staff areas telling health workers not to “make public appeals for equipment, donations, or volunteers.”
‘Stop causing a scandal’
A doctor who had posted concerns about a shortage of PPE online spoke to BBC Newsnight anonymously, fearing retaliation from his hospital.
“They dragged me in front of a panel of senior managers, it was very, very intimidating,” he said.
“They continued to feed me with what seemed like some kind of government line, saying ‘this hospital has never had a shortage of PPE,’ which I know to be false. And that it should essentially stop causing a scandal.”
“There have been colleagues who have died in my hospital. And there have been many more who have been in ICUs (intensive care units).”
“It is very, very worrying that we can’t even say that our colleagues are dead, please don’t let us be next.”
Another doctor told the program that they were called to a meeting with senior NHS managers after speaking to the press about the lack of PPE.
They said their manager told them that if they kept talking, they would gain a “reputation” and “find it difficult to get a job at that trust or others in the region.”
The doctor said, “They told me that we need positive messages to suggest that everyone on the NHS is working very hard, that we are doing our best in the pandemic. They told me this is what we should post, not negative stories.”
‘The system is completely broken’
Dr Jenny Vaughan, head of law and policy for the UK Doctors Association campaign organization, said her concerns “were not adequately heard.”
“These are people who have tried the right channels. These are people who really expressed concerns that they reached out to people who should have listened to them and felt that they were either unable to raise a concern or were not heard.”
“If you have a transparent and open reporting culture and people feel free to talk about security concerns, that saves lives.”
fake pictures
WhistleblowingUK is a non-profit organization that helps people who want to make anonymous disclosures.
“The system is completely broken,” said Georgina Halford-Hall, its executive director.
“What we see over and over again in the evidence coming back is that when a person has raised a concern, they go directly to HR, which immediately begins to investigate the complainant and look for things they are doing wrong rather than looking at the real problems they are raising.
“The default position is an autoimmune response against the complainant, and not, absolutely without intention, investigate or investigate the allegations they make.”
Conservative MEP and chair of the all-party parliamentary group for whistleblowing, Mary Robinson, said: “If we do not listen to the concerns of people on the front line, we do not have the right tools to address problems such as the shortage of EPP ”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Assistance said: “Whistleblowers perform a courageous and vital service to ensure safe care, and no one should ever be prevented from speaking or discriminating if they do.
“Freedom to Speak Up Guardians are now established in every NHS trust in England to ensure that speaking workers are heard, appreciated and supported, and that they have handled more than 19,000 cases in the past two years.”
