Final Report > Chapter 15: The Culture and Management at the UBH/T > Teamwork

Teamwork

7 The lack of managerial expertise at the level of clinical director and, as important, the lack of training to acquire expertise, led to a further problem: the failure to develop effective teamwork within directorates. One particularly striking example of this failure was the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the BRI. It also contributed to the deterioration of relationships between some groups of professionals which generally lowered morale. Dr Bolsin, consultant anaesthetist, UBH/T, referred to differences between anaesthetists and surgeons, [9] and Fiona Thomas, clinical nurse manager, UBH/T, referred to some of the theatre nurses refusing to `scrub in' for operations. [10]

8 It should be noted that at the time the consultants, particularly the surgeons, saw themselves as having very effective teams. But they saw these as their teams, which they led. They were not part of the team, other than as leaders. Also, the teams were teams of `like professionals': consultant surgeon leading surgeons, consultant anaesthetist leading anaesthetists. The teams were not organised primarily around the care of the patient, they were not cross-specialty nor multidisciplinary, and they were profoundly hierarchical.

Footnotes

[9] T82 p.114 Dr Bolsin

[10] T32 p.71 Fiona Thomas