ibex gale were pleased to have presented at a webinar for the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) on investigating allegations of sexual misconduct in the NHS.
There is well documented evidence that sexual harassment is commonplace in the NHS: Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph estimate there are 6 reports of sexual misconduct a week across the NHS; and the BMA’s Sexism in Medicine survey in 2021 found that 91% of women doctors had experienced sexism at work in the last 2 years.
The presentation looked at relevant guidance such as the GMC’s Good Medical Practice, the recent Employment Tribunal case of Sellers v British Council, and the impact of initiatives such as the #survivinginscrubs campaign that aims to tackle the problem of sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny in healthcare by providing a voice to victims.
Most of the session was spent exploring key issues that employers are likely to encounter when investigating sexual misconduct allegations, in order to give a deeper understanding and to achieve outcomes that are fair and robust.
David Major and Zoe Wood from ibex gale gave a detailed presentation on areas including:
- The current climate around sexual misconduct in healthcare
- Setting up the investigation
- Police involvement
- Dealing with historic complaints
- The importance of culture and context
- Collecting the evidence
- Assessing the evidence
- Multiple allegations or complainants
ibex gale are market leaders in conducting complex and sensitive workplace investigations. The types of investigations we specialise in include disciplinaries, grievances, bullying and harassment and whistleblowing.
We work for clients ranging from investment banks to the NHS. We have acted for more than 80 NHS Trusts as well as organisations including NHS England, the NMC, the GMC, NICE and leading private healthcare companies.
We have an unwavering focus on quality and are one of the few investigation providers accredited to the British Standard BS:102000 which demonstrates the rigour and compliance we adhere to in all our work.
For investigation enquiries, please contact David Major at dmajor@ibexgale or message us via our contact us form.
