Patients will suffer as a result of NHS ‘gagging’ clauses, a whistleblower who faced a five-year employment tribunal battle has warned.
Speaking out for the first time since 2017, surgeon Tristan Reuser warned that the use by the NHS of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) risks patients’ safety.
In 2019, the former health secretary Matt Hancock vowed to end the use of NDAs, however, reports have since revealed that NHS trusts are spending millions on settlement agreements that contain so-called gagging clauses.
In 2018 an employment tribunal found that the University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust (UHB) had unfairly dismissed Mr Reuser, an ophthalmic surgeon.
Despite this, the surgeon has faced years of battling the trust, spending thousands on legal costs.
Finally, in May last year, the trust was ordered to pay 20,000 towards Mr Reuser’s legal fees, with the judge heavily criticising the trust for its “unreasonable conduct” in failing to disclose evidence.
Mr Reuser told The Independent that during negotiations prior to the costs hearing, UHB had offered him nearly 100,000 to cover costs and tax losses on the condition that he signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Mr Reuser declined this offer, maintaining that the trust would need to offer a higher sum for any non-disclosure agreement to be signed.
However, in a statement, the trust denied Mr Reuser’s claim, and said that during the negotiations “no obligation of confidentiality on Mr Reuser was sought that...
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