A note critical of the senior staff of King Edward VII Hospital found among nurse Jacintha Saldanha’s papers related to events before the hoax call controversy, according to The Sunday Times .
“The new evidence suggests for the first time that Saldanha had been troubled before the hoax call was made by an Australian radio station,” it said.
Initially, it was thought that the criticism related to the hospital’s treatment of Ms. Saldanha following the hoax call row. Three days after taking the call that led to medical details of the Duchess of Cambridge being disclosed to two Australian DJs, she was found hanging in her house.
The paper said Scotland Yard had been told that Saldanha had a long-running “personal disagreement” with a colleague. She reportedly formally complained of her “disappointment” that the hospital had failed to take firm action against a fellow staff member.
“Jacintha was involved in a personal disagreement with a colleague several weeks before the prank call. The hospital had decided not to take any formal action but to put the two nurses on separate shifts. Jacintha made clear her disappointment and that she was not happy. She felt the hospital should have taken a tougher line. She was critical of that,” it quoted an “insider” as saying.
The hospital said it stood by Saldanha’s handling of the call even though she did not strictly follow the procedure for dealing with calls for “high-profile” patients.
The “insider” also claimed that shortly after the hospital learnt about the call, a matron sent Saldanha an e-mail telling her: “Don’t worry.”
“The deputy matron and one other hospital manager also spoke to her [Saldanha] to tell her not to worry and that there would be no disciplinary action.”
Last week, the coroner leading an inquest into her death was told that Saldanha left three handwritten notes. One dealt with the hoax call, a second related to her funeral arrangements and a third, addressed to the hospital, contained criticism of the staff.
