An Open Public Interest Letter to First Minister Carwyn Jones AM

Tuesday July 25^th 2017

Carwyn Jones AM
First Minister
National Assembly for Wales
Cardiff Bay, Cardiff CF99 1NA

carwyn.jones@gov.wales

Dear Mr. Jones

OPEN LETTER: HAFAL PUBLIC INTEREST CONCERNS

• ALLEGED BULLYING OF STAFF

• HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES

• CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS

• INJUNCTION THREATS TO PREVENT FORMER STAFF CONTACTING AMs

• “THEY’RE MESSING WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES” – THE VIEWS OF 14 PEOPLE WHO WORKED AT HAFAL.

Please, in the interest of mental health service users, carers, Hafal staff and Welsh taxpayers, could you investigate the conduct of senior managers at the mental health charity Hafal (www.hafal.org).

I have put this letter online because the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport, Vaughan Gething AM – and his predecessor Mark Drakeford AM – have failed to answer public interest questions about the organisation. Meanwhile Patrick Daly of the Welsh Government Correspondence Unit refused to forward my recent correspondence to you.

Hafal Chief Executive Alun Thomas has also been evasive. He refused to address questions on the way he treats staff, including a written request for answers from Dr. Sarah Watkins, Head of Welsh Government Mental Health & Vulnerable Groups Division.

As Chief Executive of a Government-funded charity Mr. Thomas has a duty to reply to fair public interest questions.

As Mr. Thomas has failed to respond, please could you address the following public interest concerns?

• • Alleged Bullying; This is a major issue at Hafal as the views expressed in this letter show. Staff are offered counselling when they don’t need it; senior managers are allowed to lie and get away with atrocious conduct. Hard-working staff have been forced to leave their jobs putting huge pressure on their family life and employment prospects. The scale of the alleged problem at Hafal has been described as “horrific”. One person said: “They (managers) are messing with people’s lives.” Another wrote: “I never expected to end up suffering with mental health issues because I worked for a mental health charity.” Is this how workers in Wales should be treated by a Government and Big Lottery-funded organisation? Also why has Mr. Gething failed to intervene? He is aware of the problems and has pledged to stand up to bullying and offer “support to those who need it.” However, he has failed to do so.
  • Health and safety. Unqualified staff have been put in charge of Hafal’s mental health projects placing service users’ health at risk. Is it right for staff with no mental health training to run mental health projects in Wales?
  • Confidentiality Agreements. Despite requests Mr. Thomas has failed to state how much money has been spent to buy the silence of some staff who have left the charity. Shouldn’t Welsh taxpayers know how much money has been diverted from mental health services and spent on confidentiality agreement pay-outs?
• • Injunction threats. When I tried to make fair public interest points about Hafal to AMs I was threatened with an injunction by Chair of Trustees, Elin Jones. Are injunction threats acceptable?

 “THEY’RE MESSING WITH PEOPLE’S LIVES”

The following views, from myself and 13 former staff at Hafal, are sent in good faith and anonymised to protect people from potential bullying by Hafal management.

Mr A

Hafal is a large organisation with a lot of power. Hafal receives a lot of money for the projects it delivers. In a time when public money for NHS and social services is depleting it is foolish for commissioners to not observe and correctly monitor the goings on of provider services.

As an organisation and as a mental health charity the bullying is horrific. Staff cannot relax and deliver the job they are paid to do and certainly cannot be innovative and use initiative. The company micromanages staff, morale is on the floor. Hafal is an outdated service that has grown exponentially and lost track of its true values. The charity is supposed to be led by a Board of Trustees, however it is questionable the capacity of many of these Trustees and also the influence and decision-making they actually have.

I had a horrible time at Hafal. The managers I worked with were dishonest and unprofessional. How they handle funding and treat service users as well is, in my view, disgusting and I couldn’t take it anymore. Their conduct can’t go on; it’s people’s lives they are messing with.

Would I recommend this service to my loved one should they ever need the services of Hafal? I most certainly wouldn’t. I care too much for my loved-ones to be seen under one of Hafal’s services.

Would I recommend Hafal as a company to work for? I most certainly wouldn’t unless one is looking for a company to work for where they can be bullied, sucked of any personality, morale and happiness.

Mr B

Although my job was as an Information Officer I was instructed by Hafal’s Director of Operations to cover for absent Practice Leaders at Hafal’s Swansea project on a number of occasions, a role I wasn’t qualified for or employed to do. My duty was to open the project and run it as a Practice Leader. My hours were 9am – 5pm.

On one occasion I was covering at the project on my own when a service user started complaining about a back spasm. The client became panicky as the pain got worse, he told me his discomfort may trigger his bipolar disorder. I feared he may pass out so I laid him on a couch and kept him awake until an ambulance arrived approximately two hours later. He was then taken to hospital.

Later that week another service user came to me with her health concerns. She implied she would take her life that weekend. I felt great anxiety and ill-equipped to deal with her problems.

I don’t think it is right that an Information Officer with no mental health training or Practice Leader qualifications was put in charge of projects by the Director of Operations. It was unfair on clients, the public and myself. In fact, shortly before Sharon Jones instructed me to work at the Swansea project she incorrectly claimed I needed counselling to cope with bullying by another member of staff at Hafal. So she put someone she deemed ill and who had no health and safety qualifications in charge of approximately 15 service users at a mental health project. Is this acceptable?

I think a centre for people with serious mental illness should be run by qualified mental health staff. This was not always the case at Swansea – or other Hafal projects, including RCT, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot.

Miss C

I never expected to end up suffering with mental health issues because I worked for a mental health charity.

Miss D

I witnessed my colleagues suffer at the hands of senior management at Hafal on a regular basis. I was on the receiving end of Hafal’s poor staff treatment as well when I had to leave after becoming burnt-out.

During the staff induction I attended Alun, the Chief Executive, delivered a convincing talk about how Hafal is run as a non-hierarchical organisation, how all staff at project level and in Head Office, along with service users and Trustees, are “equal”. My experiences at Hafal couldn’t be further from the truth. Alun’s words were just lip service, a tick-box exercise. A lot of people have been let down by Hafal; I think it’s definitely time for an investigation into their poor conduct.

Miss E

Anyone with any spirit and independent thought leaves Hafal eventually and often, unfortunately, in difficult circumstances, the list of casualties is endless.

Miss F

Hafal eats away at you like nothing else I’ve experienced. I used to be quite a confident person but Hafal stripped that away and I feel like I’ve been left with a cloud over me and my professionalism called into question.

Mr G

After a grievance brought by myself, Hafal senior management offered me counselling. This action left me feeling isolated, alone and with nobody to turn to. I have no doubt the offer of counselling was deliberately done to make out I had a mental health issue. I now know that offering counselling is standard practice for anyone that brings important concerns to light.

Miss H

Hafal took all my confidence away and questioned the person I am. When I told a senior member of staff that I felt bullied I was offered counselling instead of the alleged bullying issue being dealt with directly. Working at Hafal also had a massive impact on my family; at one point I seriously thought my long-term relationship with my partner was over because of all the stress at work.

Miss I

It’s about time someone spoke out. They can’t be allowed to treat people the way they do, it’s disgusting. I’ve bumped into two former colleagues in the last few weeks both of whom loved their jobs but couldn’t take anymore of Hafal and so have left.

Miss J

The fact that you (John Gilheaney) have been threatened with an injunction (by Hafal) speaks volumes.

Mr K

Hafal is very good at appearing to be a forward-thinking organisation through its campaigns and relationship with Welsh Government, however, when you scratch beneath its surface it is probably the worst national organisation in Wales.

Miss L

I left my job at Hafal because I felt it was a matter of time before I was pushed. I’ve never worked for a place with such little understanding of how to manage its staff. I heard so many stories of how people were pushed out, treated so unfairly. I had a few small disagreements about my role and the total disregard for my opinion and inappropriate reactions by management made working there miserable. I had no apologies and no respect. I find it amazing that a mental health charity acted in the way they did towards us as employees: controlling, disrespectful, a culture of fear. I would never go back there, it’s such a shame when we had a real opportunity to improve things. It was only their ill-thought obstruction that prevented that, ultimately letting down their clients.

Mr M

There is a blame culture at Hafal that prevents staff from speaking up so you get these situations where staff have to work extremely long hours in the evenings and weekends just so you don’t get criticised, which in turn puts pressure on work and home life and takes away from the service which is offered to clients.

Miss N

They are a terrible company to work for.

These views are, I suspect, the tip of the iceberg. They demonstrate that the points raised in my letters to Messrs Gething and Drakeford represent a number of staff, are in the public interest and are not merely the views of a disgruntled ex-employee as has been implied.

The Welsh Government invests large sums of public money in Hafal. If staff are not being treated fairly you won’t get value for money – neither will mental health service users or carers.

I trust you will answer the questions raised in this letter and ask Hafal’s Chief Executive to openly account for his evasions, conduct, the behaviour of his senior managers and the views expressed in this letter.

Hafal staff do some very good work across Wales but the poor treatment and mismanagement they endure must stop. I am still being contacted by excellent former colleagues who are highly stressed because of the way they managers behave at the charity. I have also met a Trustee who is aware of what’s going on – but is not prepared to do anything about it.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

 

John Gilheaney
john.gilheaney@btinternet.com