A report to University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust Board said four members of staff had been sacked and 54 new concerns reported to human resources between September 1 and October 31 last year.
The report said this meant there were 130 ‘live’ cases and while there had been a 12 per cent reduction from August, it was still double the ‘normal levels’.
It added measures were being put in place to reduce the time taken to resolve cases while a ‘casework blitz day’ was held in November.
During September and October, 29 cases were resolved and the average time taken had been cut from 22 weeks to 17. There had also been a reduction in the number of concerns reported.
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. Photo: Google
The four people sacked were for fraud, dishonesty, physical assault and not having a right to work.
Of the 130 live cases being investigated, 86 of them relate to disciplinary matters while 21 are around ‘dignity at work’ issues.
Heartlands Hospital has developed an action plan to address bullying, harassment and abuse in teams with the worst performance scores on the staff survey.
The report said: “The People caseworkers have done great work to close more cases and bring down investigation times.
“However, whilst volumes are reducing, at its current 130 that is still almost double normal levels.
“Despite short circuits and the significant development in our practices and processes introduced in 2024, and the work of the Associate Directors of People with their caseworker teams, the employee relations casework continues to be challenging our capacity and overwhelming our capability.
“The volume persists in being too high, too complex and too contentious, and is subsequently and inevitably taking too long.
“It is causing unsafe levels of risk that are difficult to mitigate. The sheer number of cases and contentiousness is causing harm – to the people involved in cases, the trust, and significantly for the team who are working incredibly hard under this pressure.”