The damning verdict on the trust’s behaviour has earned the ire of North Down MLA Alex Easton. A long-term backer of Bangor Community Hospital, he says learning of the trust’s treatment of frontline staff made him furious.
“That hospital is meant to be a place of caring and healing,” he said, “but according to this report, for staff it was a house of horrors.
“And that is wholly and totally the fault of the trust. I have always said closing Bangor Hospital’s GP ward was a bad idea from the start, but the treatment of staff highlighted here has been little short of monstrous.”
Mr Easton pointed out that he had raised concerns over the treatment of staff at a public consultation meeting the trust held about the GP ward earlier this year.
“My concerns were essentially dismissed and I was assured that staff were relatively happy with the process,” he said. “Now we find out all this was going on behind the scenes.
“This is not an acceptable way for the trust to behave. They not only have a duty to the public but also to their staff as well, and in my view both are suffering from the loss of this ward. The only people who are happy are the moneymen.”
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