Anatomy of a Whistleblower’s Persecution: The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Trust Scandal

The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH) is at the centre of damning allegations that reveal an entrenched culture of self-preservation, retaliation, and systemic failure. Central to this narrative is Dr. Serryth Colbert, a renowned oral and maxillofacial surgeon whose commitment to excellence and patient safety clashed with institutional priorities aimed at silencing dissent and avoiding accountability.

Dr. Colbert’s ordeal exemplifies the toxic environment within RUH, where whistleblowers are branded troublemakers, victimised, and subjected to systematic retaliation for exposing serious failings. The broader implications extend far beyond his personal experience, shedding light on failures in NHS governance, misuse of public resources, and jeopardised patient safety.

A Respected Surgeon Turned Target

Dr. Colbert joined RUH in 2015, inheriting a struggling oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) department. Through remarkable leadership, he:

• Fundraised over £660,000 to modernise facilities and implement cutting-edge digital technology.
• Improved patient outcomes and eliminated a backlog that had resulted in substantial NHS England penalties.
• Earned clinical excellence awards, grants for innovative and novel treatments he introduced to the Trust and recognition for his transformative contributions.

Despite these achievements, Dr. Colbert faced retaliation after raising serious concerns about systemic failures, including:

1. Patient Harm: Routine dental procedures were prioritised over urgent cancer surgeries, causing unnecessary delays.
2. Substandard Practices: Orbital surgeries by Consultant A led to avoidable vision loss, a pattern RUH leadership ignored.

Instead of addressing these failures, RUH branded Dr. Colbert a “troublemaker” and orchestrated a campaign to discredit and silence him.

Being put under surveillance – The Covert Recording / Photography Scandal

One of the most egregious actions taken against Dr. Colbert involved a covert recording by Consultant A, deliberately staged to provoke an emotional reaction. The recording also captured junior doctors discussing patient care, breaching NHS confidentiality policies, UK GDPR regulations, and human rights protections.

Instead of reprimanding Consultant A for this gross misconduct, RUH exploited the recording, presenting selective excerpts to mischaracterise Dr. Colbert as intimidating. Despite assurances that the recordings would be destroyed, they resurfaced during his dismissal hearing in 2023—a blatant violation of trust and due process.

Dr. Colbert aptly described the recordings as a “manipulated charade,” weaponised to silence a whistleblower and distract from glaring patient safety concerns.

Astonishingly, Dr Colbert movements throughout the Trust were logged, he was followed and secretly photographed off site while talking to other doctors. In a further act of depravity, his personal belongings were secretly searched and his ‘used scrubs’ covertly photographed.

Systemic Leadership and Ethical Failures

Dr. Colbert’s case reveals a pattern of misconduct and selective accountability within RUH:

1. Neglect of Patient Safety: Adverse outcomes from orbital surgeries were consistently ignored – Dr Colbert was accused of ‘making noise’ by senior management when he voiced concerns. Cancer surgeries were deprioritised in favour of routine dental cases to meet administrative targets and secure managerial bonuses.
2. Discrimination and Bias: Racially charged comments were directed at Dr. Colbert denigrating his ethnic background, and a female colleague was overlooked for promotion in favour of a less competent male counterpart – both of equal grade.
3. Fraud and Resource Misuse: Staff charged private patients for services performed at RUH facilities, yet these practices were overlooked by leadership.
4. Weaponising Investigations: Investigations led by unqualified external agents excluded witnesses supporting Dr. Colbert, relying instead on hearsay and fabricated allegations.

Retaliation Playbook: Silencing Whistleblowers

Dr. Colbert’s exclusion from RUH in March 2021 illustrates how NHS Trusts misuse disciplinary processes to suppress dissent. RUH leadership employed unethical tactics, including:

• Offering to drop a General Medical Council (GMC) referral threat if Dr. Colbert signed NDAs and withdrew his claims while simultaneously writing letters of apology to those who harmed patients.
• Leveraging the GMC process as a bargaining tool—a clear breach of ethical standards which brought the GMC process of revalidation into disrepute.
• Intimidating Dr. Colbert and his family through physical threats, property damage, and defamatory narratives.

These actions mirror strategies employed against other NHS whistleblowers, including Dr. Trish Mills and Dr. Martyn Pitman, further highlighting systemic failures in protecting those who expose wrongdoing.

Rather than address the patient safety concerns, the RUH set the dogs loose on Dr Colbert for voicing safety concerns while bankrolling law firms to attempt to coerce Dr Colbert to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) under duress over the patient safety concerns he raised. The CEO then awarded herself a £30,000 pay rise last Christmas after overseeing the downgrading of the CQC status of the Trust – thereby rewarding failure and incompetence.

The Human Toll: Intimidation and Defamation

The relentless targeting of Dr. Colbert extended beyond professional retaliation, creating an environment of fear and intimidation. This included:

• Physical Threats: Tyre slashings, property damage, and a dead rat placed on his car.
• Defamation: Circulating damaging gossip and false narratives to undermine his reputation.
• Impact on Family: Dr. Colbert’s wife and children were subjected to distressing incidents, including surveillance and harassment with multiple assaults / crimes of hatred against his family reported to the police.

These tactics were designed to break his resolve, reflecting a broader culture of hostility toward whistleblowers.

A System in Need of Reform

Dr. Colbert’s experience demands urgent systemic reforms to address the endemic failures within NHS governance:

1. Strengthened Whistleblower Protections: Legislative reforms to shield whistleblowers from retaliation and provide robust mechanisms for reporting concerns.
2. Independent Oversight: Establishing external review bodies to investigate allegations of misconduct and enforce accountability.
3. Ban on NDAs: Prohibiting NDAs in cases involving patient safety to ensure transparency and justice.
4. Leadership Accountability: Holding senior executives to account through disciplinary action and criminal charges where warranted.
5. Corporate Manslaughter Charges: Addressing systemic failures leading to patient harm with appropriate legal consequences.
6. Criminal Convictions: if Trust executives and management put any measure in place that stops conversations about patient care or victimise members of staff who raise genuine patient safety concerns, they will face criminal convictions.

Conclusion: A Fight for Justice

Dr Serryth Colbert’s battle is far from over, but his courage has illuminated a shadowy corner of the NHS. His case highlights the systemic nature of the NHS‘ treatment of whistleblowers and that there is a standard protocol, implemented with the support of stooges/bad faith actors / law firms bankrolled at huge expense to the NHS to ‘coverup’ their wrongdoing. Dr Colbert’s story serves as both a cautionary tale and a call to action. Without systemic reform, whistleblowers will continue to be silenced, patient safety will remain at risk, and public trust in the NHS will erode further.

Whistleblowers recognise when things go wrong, call it out, lead by example and ensure accountability. Patient safety is everybody’s responsibility.  Whistleblowers are serving our country but are being eroded. Rather than resent Dr Colbert for voicing patient safety concerns, it was an opportunity of the RUH management and executives to re examine their own values and grow. Disgracefully, they chose to unleash the hounds of hell on Dr Colbert rather than address their own institutional deficits.

The RUH, now under the spotlight of the national broadcast and broadsheet media, have now entered a legal process where they cannot be seen to admit guilt. They shamelessly bankroll law firms to ‘win at any cost’ brushing aside their own policies as they bully, intimidate and sack staff. Sacking the good doctors and promoting the bad doctors is a very bad look for the NHS.

Over the past decade the public have funded enquiry after enquiry into covering up wrongdoing in our NHS.  The outcome of the Mid Staffordshire, Patterson and Shrewsbury and Telford Enquiries etc is all same– ‘lessons must be learned’. The question is not whether the NHS can ‘learn lessons’ and change but whether it can afford not to.

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