Management aggression to Donor Services staff

A now long-running attitude of aggression from NBS management to Donor Services staff (such as the collection teams) has recently worsened, with a letter from widely disliked DS Director Richard Fry.

The letter in question

In it he refers to a number of 'non-compliances' noted by the MHRA, a regulatory body which gives the Blood Service our licence to practise, on their last round of inspections. These fall into 2 camps - 'major' and 'other'.

Richard Fry comments on 3 small 'Good Manufacturing Practice' failures by collection teams, while carefully avoiding any mention of the management non-compliances (including their handling of change) which the MHRA picked up on. The truth is that it is these top-level errors which are the 'major' problems, and the threat to our licence, while the issues needing attention by Donor Services staff definitely come under the category of 'other'.

The tone of the letter is unacceptably threatening. Richard Fry warns heavily that action will be taken against those who fail to comply with procedure in future. He claims that although these points were noted at one particular site, there is no reason to assume the same mistakes are not rife across the service.

Many of us when starting to work for the NBS were told that this was an employer which encouraged a 'no blame' culture. The NBS 'Mission and Values' - now almost abandoned as an idea behind the organisation - talked about looking for solutions together. This is far from Richard Fry's current unhealthy iron rule of scaring staff into obedience. This letter is just one more example, for a growing pile, of how Blood Service management disrespect and harrass the underappreciated staff, week in, week out.

If you work in Donor Services and would like to anonymously have a moan about Richard Fry's unfair attacks, please feel free to use the comments section below. Your colleagues working in the labs and other NHS staff need (and would be interested) to hear your views.


The hardworking face of the National Blood Service