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‘Bullying and racism’ provider faces NHSE investigation

Published on: 24 Oct 2024

A community services provider at the centre of bullying and racism allegations is being formally investigated by NHS England over its governance arrangements, HSJ can reveal.

The investigation will look into the governance of Sirona Care and Health, an NHS and council-funded social enterprise which is the main provider of community health services for the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System.

HSJ last month reported that Sirona had launched an internal investigation into its staff culture following allegations of “unacceptable behaviours”, including racism and bullying.

In an internal staff message sent this month, seen by HSJ, Sirona interim chief executive Julie Sharma said NHSE “has a duty to make sure our governance is working well” and is therefore “undertaking a formal investigation” into how the provider is run, and its decision-making processes.

Ms Sharma said: “We know that some things could be better. For instance, too many of our executive directors are on interim contracts and our board is short of non-executive directors. We are addressing both of these.”

In addition to the NHSE investigation, Ms Sharma said Sirona had commissioned the Good Governance Institute to help it make “further improvements”.

A Sirona spokesperson confirmed the NHSE investigation, saying: “Governance is important and this external scrutiny may identify improvements to our processes and policies that will further enhance the way we operate as an organisation.”

The organisation has been without a permanent chief executive and chair since the resignations of Sue Porto and Amanda Cheesley in August. Both had been “away from the business” since May.

Interviews are currently taking place for a substantive chief operating officer and chief finance officer, while the process for recruiting a substantive chief executive will begin “soon”, according to the internal message.

An NHSE spokesperson said: “NHSE is investigating governance arrangements at Sirona Care and Health [to] help ensure [it] is complying with its NHS provider licence.”

NHSE clarified that the investigation will not look into quality of care or finances.