Senior doctor's exclusion unlawful, says union

A senior doctor who raised concerns about bullying and harassment has been "unlawfully excluded" from his role, a trade union has claimed.

Dr Timothy Noble, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's executive medical director, was excluded from performing his duties in September 2024, the British Medical Association (BMA) said.

They said the decision reflected a "toxic culture" within the trust and accused it of responding to concerns with "disciplinary threats".

A trust spokesperson said it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases, adding: "As a trust, we take any allegations of bullying or inappropriate behaviour extremely seriously."

Dr Noble, who started his career as a consultant respiratory physician at the trust in 2006, was appointed executive medical director in 2020.

The BMA's head of region for Yorkshire and North-East, Shazia Karim, said: "Dr Timothy Noble remains unlawfully excluded from his role at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and has been excluded since early September 2024.

"It is wholly unacceptable for this to happen to a senior doctor who has served the Trust for almost 20 years and has raised concerns in the public interest about bullying and harassment."

Ms Karim said the BMA was also "deeply concerned" about public money being spent on external HR consultants and legal firms to seemingly "suppress concerns" and "intimidate" those who speak out.

"There is a growing and widespread loss of confidence in the trust's senior leadership," she said.

The BMA said it was aware of "significant" concerns across the trust in relation to bullying and "the loss of experienced and capable senior staff", which it claimed was linked to "the poor culture in the organisation".

In the most recent report by the Care Quality Commission last year, the watchdog said it had received "several whistleblowing concerns", with staff reporting they did not feel respected, supported and valued at DBTH.

The organisation is currently rated as requiring improvement.

The trust said an NHS staff survey showed complaints of bullying and harassment from managers and colleagues had reduced over the past five years, from 9.7% in 2019 to 6.85% in 2024/25.

According to the trust, turnover among senior colleagues had averaged 13.89% annually over the past five years - in-line with national NHS averages.

Trust-wide turnover had averaged 12.87% annually over the past five years and was 11% in 2024/25, again broadly consistent with the national NHS average, it said.

It said over the same time frame, four executive directors had left DBTH: two for retirement and two for career progression.

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