In the News: Dr Peter Duffy talks about Dr Phil Hammond’s Private Eye article

As the new chair of the healthcare focus group I’m delighted by the growing momentum for change in national attitudes to whistleblowing and safeguarding.  We have recently had sustained interest in whistleblowing from most of the broadsheets and broadcasters including Sky News, the BBC and ITV, as well as Private Eye and Computer Weekly (who together broke the Post Office scandal).  Also, we have recently added to our ranks the paediatrician Dr. Ravi Jayaram, who was one of the consultants who blew the whistle over excessive baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital, and Dr. Phil Hammond, medical contributor to “Private Eye” someone who helped bring to attention the excessive death rates from paediatric heart surgery at Bristol in the 1990s.  Our sincere thanks to Steve Turner for his work as previous chair and for generously agreeing to continue as vice chair, alongside Dr. Ravi Jayaram.

In his recent talk to the WhistleblowersUK associate members Dr Phil Hammond gave us some insight into the Bristol baby scandal in the 1990s. Health leaders promised that this would be a turning point in NHS attitudes to safeguarding, candour and whistleblowing.  Yet, a quarter of a century on perceptible progress has been entirely absent.  Dedicated healthcare workers at all levels and all specialities continue to have their lives and careers trashed, simply for fulfilling their moral, professional and indeed contractual obligations.  

Most importantly, patients continue to die, suffer and be put at avoidable and unnecessarily risk as reported in ever increasing numbers of NHS scandals! 

Clearly, our current national whistleblowing framework has failed everyone and no amount of polishing and tampering with the wholly-inadequate Public Interest Disclosure Act will change matters.  New legislation and an Office of the Whistleblower is needed, to protect whistleblowers, to safeguard vulnerable members of the public, to hold wrongdoers to account and to re-educate. It is now time to introduce punitive sanctions as a means of levelling the playing field and to hold organisations and individuals who might risk the lives and wellbeing of others, or be tempted to turn a blind eye to illegal or risky behaviour to account.

It is not only in healthcare that fresh legislation is needed.  Financially, in excess of £190 billion (enough to run the NHS) goes missing from this nation’s accounts every year in fraudulent transactions, £40 billion of this from the public sector.  Wrongdoing in IT, financial services, education, policing and even central government itself goes unchallenged, as those “in the know” are too frightened of retaliation to speak out and safeguard the vulnerable amongst us. In the rare instances where people take on the concerns raised by whistleblowers they too often become the next target as demonstrated by the case of the Rt.Hon. Johnny Mercer MP.

It is time for the Government to demonstrate real leadership, admit that the law has failed the public interest and make whistleblowing work. 

If we are to attract and retain the best people in our workforce and normalise speaking up across society we need legislation that promotes and normalises speaking up that can be understood and accessed by everyone. 

As the first European country to introduce whistleblowing legislation we have fallen woefully behind those of other comparable economies driving our whistleblowers into the arms of the US and other developed countries Like Dr Balsam from the BRI who alerted the high mortality of babies in Bristol who was forced to emigrate to Australia.  

As we enter the last few months before election campaigning begins in earnest, it is vital that we all pull together to compel both the outgoing government and the incoming one to commit, once and for all, to putting in place fairer and more effective legislation that will put the UK back where it should always have been; at the forefront of protections for vulnerable whistleblowers and members of the public alike. 

Many thanks to Dr Phil Hammond’s Private Eye article supporting our calls on Minister Hollinrake to deliver on the promises he made to whistleblowers and make the Whistleblowing Bill and Office of the Whistleblower his legacy. 

Copyright Private Eye. (£2.99 from all good newsagents) 

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