SHOCKING allegations from a second hospital whistleblower could be indicative of a “culture of bullying and harassment”, an MP has warned.

Radiographer Sue Allison began working for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) in 2006.

In 2012 she reported a string of missed cancer diagnoses and concerns about standards of care in a breast screening unit.

Her whistleblowing related to patients who received care at Lancaster Royal Infirmary but the consultants in question treated patients across the trust’s hospitals which include Furness General Hospital and Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal.

The allegations were subsequently investigated by Public Health England and The Mail understands that a number of individuals whose malpractice was confirmed by regulators have since left the trust.

Mrs Allison, who formerly lived in Grange, claims that as a result, in 2015 she was pressured into signing two non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) which prohibited her from voicing her concerns in public.

On April 2 a hearing is set to take place at Manchester Employment Tribunal Service which will determine if a full hearing is necessary to establish if it was unlawful to ask her to sign an agreement.

Speaking to The Mail, Mrs Allison, who still works for the trust at Furness General Hospital but is currently on sick leave, said she fears the repercussions of the malpractice she reported are still emerging.

“I am confident that at least two patients died as a direct result of the failings of certain individuals employed by the trust,” she claimed.

“My worry is that there are many more whose diagnoses and prognoses are only just being discovered.”

Mrs Allison alleges she was “ostracised” and “accused of being a troublemaker”, along with a fellow whistleblower in the same department.

She said: “Our bosses launched a smear campaign against us.

“Nobody wanted to talk to us or be seen with us.

“It was so upsetting because I didn’t want to lose my job or the career I loved so much. I was just doing what I thought was right in the interests of patient safety.”

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock voiced significant concerns over Mrs Allison’s allegations and the possibility that there was, and remains, a “culture of bullying” at the trust.

“This is the second accusation in fewer than six months that a whistleblower in the Morecambe Bay Trust was subjected to bullying, intimidation and harassment when trying to reveal instances of negligence within the organisation,” he said, referring to whistleblower former UHMBT urologist Peter Duffy.

“If true, it is clear that the trust has not learnt it's lesson.

“The NHS is supposed to be a shining beacon of transparency and openness but if these reports of poor treatment of staff who are simply to do right by their patients are true, it shows that this damaging culture of bullying and harassment is as rife there as it is throughout society.

“As before, if the trust wished to contest Mrs Allison’s claims then they are free to do so. Forcing her to sign two separate NDAs without legal representation is an egregious abuse of their authority.

“The trust needs to get its act together and look carefully into the way it treats its staff who are simply trying to carry out their duty of care and stop this abuse of NDAs simply to save face.”

Read the trust's full response to Mrs Allison's claims: https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/17526265.fgh-hospital-boss-insists-we-do-not-gag-employees/