NHS Whistleblowing Policy Document Published

NHS Improvement, the organisation that maintains the quality of NHS establishments for both patients and employees, has published the highly anticipated final draft of its official whistleblowing policy report which all NHS organisations must begin following by 31st March 2017. The plan for a single set of rules across the whole NHS was decided last November, and has been completed following feedback from industry personnel.

The need for a single policy was agreed upon as a result of Sir Robert Francis’ Freedom to Speak review published last year. This report identified several serious issues relating to whistleblowing in the NHS.

With a single clearly defined national policy, that the NHS will follow without exception, there will be less chance of harm coming to employees who choose to speak out regarding their concerns. The sheer volume of whistleblowing actions occurring at NHS facilities in recent years has been alarming.

To ensure that the new rule is absolute in scope, exact areas of whistleblowing concern have been identified as examples of where the policy will appear, including complaints of poor working facilities and environments that create harmful conditions for patient care.

The single policy offers some minor room for alterations from the written law, such as choosing how the rules are absorbed into each individual organisation’s own current system. Although, the national rule will still take precedence over existing local policies.

The exact personnel who should be contacted in the event of a disclosure is also highlighted. This will involve a specific system of professionals including the ‘whistleblowing guardian’ who is required for employment at all NHS businesses in order to provide support and advice for employees’ making disclosures.

A first step in the investigation process will be for the matter to be potentially solved via the organisation’s line manager without any need for further action. Should this not prove possible, the organisation will instead take action via the further assistance of an unbiased third party source; namely an independent professional who possesses all necessary expertise required.

The intention of the report is not so much to deal with all concerns inside the NHS without outside interference, but to instead provide an atmosphere of comfort and encouragement for whistleblowers throughout the entire NHS, from senior figures to lower ranking employees.

Chief executive of NHS Employers, Danny Mortimer, explained the organisation’s position:

“Employers are committed to ensuring that every member of staff feel able to raise any concerns and know that appropriate action will be taken. We are also pleased to see that employers can incorporate their local processes into this national standard policy – employers will now want to review the documentation in partnership with their local staff representatives and agree the best way to engage and communicate with staff”.