Keeping it simple - Why ‘independent oversight of whistleblowing’ matters for patients
The Public Interest Disclosure Act [PIDA] fails to address the public interest. PIDA turns patient safety concerns into employment issues. It kicks in after the harm has been done, turning a public interest matter into a costly private dispute. Taking the focus off the core issues. Further harming everyone involved in speaking up.
The Protection For Whistleblowing Bill [HL] replaces PIDA and introduces of an Office of The Whistleblower [OWB]. The Bill has cross party support and has passed its second reading. The Office of the Whistleblower will strengthen existing initiatives and bring them together, emphasising prevention and early intervention by the most appropriate route.
Right now, there is an elephant in the room. Where staff can't, or don't blow the whistle or are ignored or silenced, the onus to expose wrongdoing falls on patients and their relatives who then have no protection under #PIDA. Their concerns are often treated as individual cases and core learning, which would make services safer across the board, are delayed or event lost. Recent reports into maternity care support this view. In 2022 a report by Dr Bill Kirkup OBE, into deaths in East Kent NHS maternity services confirmed that the ‘onus was on patients to raise concerns’ because the culture of fear prevented whistleblowers from speaking out.
Another example of relatives being put in the position of becoming a whistleblower is in the care or people with learning disabilities and autism. In 2014 the Department of Health and Social Care published an Inquiry which found that almost two-fifths of people with learning disabilities died from causes ‘amenable to good quality healthcare’1. Consider the times where relatives or former members of staff have been the whistleblowers and it has taken a media expose the situation. This is glaring inequality of care & treatment for vulnerable people is a scandal of Mid Staffs proportions, and yet all too often it’s brought to our attention as one individual case at a time.
The Protection For Whistleblowing Bill will ensure that everyone who raises concerns about wrongdoing in the public interest is able to access protection. Under the new law concerns will be scrutinised (weeding out any vexatious allegations) and root causes identified so that they can be acted on by the appropriate parties. The OWB benefits all genuine whistleblowers, plus employers, regulators, and organisations such as Protect, who have a track record of providing high quality support and training. The OWB will help join up the existing initiatives which came out of the Frances’ Report2, which is not happening at present. The OWB will provide much needed oversight, analysis, standards and support, ending the costly minefield of turning a patient safety issue into an employment issue.
For more information on the Protection For Whistleblowing Bill [HL] see:
Steve Turner – WBUK Healthcare Spokesperson & Co-chair of the WBUK Healthcare Focus Group
Public Health England (2015) Learning Disabilities Observatory People with learning disabilities in England. 2015: Main report Version 1.0/ November 2016. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmpubacc/973/973.pdf
Francis, R Sir (2015) Report on the Freedom to Speak Up review http://freedomtospeakup.org.uk/the-report/
