A NATIONAL report suggesting two consultants from Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust signed gagging orders worth thousands of pounds has been dismissed by health bosses.
The Daily Telegraph have released a report today that states the two consultants from the Trust, which manages Grimsby's Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, received £265,000 and £300,000.
However in a statement from the Trust, they deny that the payments were for "gagging orders" but say they cannot state what they were for because it is confidential.
Dr Neil Pease, director of organisational development and workforce at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The Trust made payments to two consultants in February 2013, one of £265,000 and the other of £300,000.
"I can categorically state these payments were not part of a 'gagging order' and the payments were in no way related to patient safety issues or whistleblowing."
The Daily Telegraph is today reporting that a Freedom of Information act has revealed that hospitals across the country have spent £2-million of 50 "secret" gagging orders.
The statistics, obtained by Stephen Barclay, a Conservative member of the public accounts committee, allegedly show that at least 52 staff have been silenced using the orders since 2008, some of which cost as much as £500,000. All are thought to contain confidentiality clauses.
The report reads: "The true number is likely to be higher. A quarter of hospital trusts in England and Wales failed to respond, while the survey did not include GPs, the ambulance service and mental health trusts.
"In March, it emerged that NHS hospital trusts had spent £15 million on silencing almost 600 staff. But the figures did not include "judicially mediated" settlements, under which a hospital reaches a settlement with staff which is then signed off by a judge or senior lawyer.
"Unlike normal gagging orders, the pay-offs are not signed off by the Department of Health or the Treasury, meaning that the Government has no chance to block them if they are inappropriate.
"The Department of Health said it has now closed the "loophole", but said that previous agreements will not be reviewed.
"The biggest judicially mediated settlement was signed by Gary Walker, the former chief executive of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust. He was removed from his post and paid £500,000 to keep quiet after raising concerns about patient safety.
"Mr Walker, who was threatened with legal action when he went public with his concerns, said: 'They (the agreements) are the most blatant sweeping under the carpet I have ever seen. They are sinister. I know a couple of people who have signed these agreements after raising patient safety concerns but are too afraid to speak out'."
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is currently in talks with the Daily Telegraph about the article.
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