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Patients 'afraid' of complaining, warns Ann Clwyd Hospital patients and staff scared to complain says MP
(35 minutes later)
There is a climate of fear in the Welsh NHS that stops people speaking out about problems, Labour MP Ann Clwyd has told the assembly's health committee. Patients, relatives, and staff are scared of speaking out about problems in hospitals, MP Ann Clwyd has warned.
She said patients and their relatives were afraid that complaining would result in poorer treatment. Ms Clwyd - critical of her late husband's care in a Cardiff hospital - said some were afraid complaining would mean poorer treatment.
Ms Clwyd appealed for staff to "be honest" and speak out if they see something that is wrong. She said she had calls from medical staff who would not give names for fear of being sacked.
Previous attempts to call Ms Clwyd, a critic of care standards, before the committee were blocked by Labour AMs. Labour MP Ann Clwyd was appointed by David Cameron as an adviser on how hospitals in England handle complaints.
This followed her speaking out against failings in the care of her husband at the University Hospital of Wales.
She was also asked to advise Mr Cameron after the findings of an inquiry into failings at Stafford Hospital in Staffordshire.
As she addressed the Welsh assembly health committee, Ms Clwyd repeated her call for a review of the Welsh NHS, similar to Sir Bruce Keogh's review in England.
Referring to fear among patients and their families, she claimed some can feel put off raising concerns on the actual ward.
She said nurses tend to 'cluster' at nurses' stations and people can feel they are intruding if they approach them.
"One person asked a nurse for help where they were all doing eBay," she told the committee.
"They turned to them and said 'when we do this we'll come to you'."
Previous attempts to call Ms Clwyd before the committee were blocked by Labour AMs.
Labour had argued it was "constitutionally inappropriate" for the committee to interview backbench MPs on devolved matters.Labour had argued it was "constitutionally inappropriate" for the committee to interview backbench MPs on devolved matters.
But speaking on Wednesday, the Cynon Valley MP insisted: "The staff are afraid, the patients are afraid, the patients' relatives are afraid and that just can't be right.
"And I think in Wales there's a tendency not to complain as much as people ought to complain when something's wrong.
"There's a tendency to feel 'oh well, we don't want to upset anybody, we don't want to bother them'.
"And also the fear it'll be taken out on them in some way if they do complain, that they'll get poorer treatment."
Ms Clwyd's concerns about the Welsh NHS followed the death of her husband at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff in 2012 and an inquiry she led into standards in the NHS in England.Ms Clwyd's concerns about the Welsh NHS followed the death of her husband at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff in 2012 and an inquiry she led into standards in the NHS in England.
An internal health board inquiry upheld many of her complaints but not her claim he died "like a battery hen". An internal health board inquiry upheld many of her complaints, but not her claim he died "like a battery hen".