WHISTLEBLOWERS claim a culture of bullying and intimidation has "rapidly developed" at Russells Hall Hospital.

A letter of concern, signed by 42 staff members, has been sent to Jenni Ord, chairman of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, urging her to "step in".

The trust's executive management team have been heavily criticised in the letter, which refers to "a significant deterioration in leadership style", adding that staff are "increasingly blamed for systematic failings", leaving them "afraid to raise concerns in case they are scapegoated".

The letter also claims that individual teams are being asked to work to "completely unreasonable job plans", adding: "The workload of many members of the medical workforce is now unsustainable and a number of consultants have resigned from leadership positions and even their clinical roles."

The letter concludes: "We no loner have confidence in the executive director team to deliver the leadership that the trust needs.

"We urge you to step in to ensure the proper management of the trust, for the sake of our patients and the clinical teams who care for them."

Mrs Ord confirmed she had received the letter of concern from members of the medical team, adding: "The concerns will be fully investigated by NHS Improvement to ensure independence.

“The trust executive welcome and support this. The trust has worked hard to ensure there are different ways of raising concerns. Staff can raise concerns either formally or informally with their line manager, lead clinician or tutor.

“Raising concerns about any aspect of work is vital if an organisation is to learn and move forward. The trust recognises that individuals may not want to speak up but we actively encourage staff to raise concerns in a no blame or recrimination culture."

She continued: “We welcome concerns being raised no matter how big or small and are focused on the benefits from voicing concerns as a way to learn, make changes and improve the working place for our staff and ensure the safety of our patients and visitors. We have a robust whistleblowing policy that clearly communicates how staff should raise their concerns.

“However, on occasion staff may feel they cannot do that and have several routes to raise their concerns.

“We are also appointing champions for speaking up to support the freedom to speak up guardians.”

A spokesman for NHS Improvement said: “We have received concerns from staff and will be considering the information provided in line with our whistleblowing policy. We are unable to comment further at this stage.”