Edinburgh Care Home Worker Praised For Whistleblowing

A whistle-blower who revealed shocking conditions at an Edinburgh care home has been praised for being brave enough to speak out. Scottish parliamentary member Cameron Buchanan told the whistleblower, who is known to be a carer at the home, that they had ‘shown courage’ to confront a serious situation at Colinton Care Home, which has seen three of its staff members suspended as a result of the revelations.

Mr Buchanan announced there will be a complete investigation into the conduct of staff who are alleged to have physically abused many of its 53 residents, stating “While abuse in care homes is not prevalent, it is more common than people think and if there is any truth in these allegations, it would be very disturbing.”

Although no staff have yet been charged with an offence there is said to be considerable evidence of aggressive behaviour being directed at patients. Managers of Four Seasons Health Care, the company that owns the Colinton facility through subsidiary firm Brighterkind, are assisting police with their enquiries.

Reaction from Four Seasons Health Care

Four Seasons Health Care officials have also praised the whisteblower, claiming they take pride in the organisation’s “active whistleblowing policy”, and that Four Seasons played a pivotal role in bringing the situation to light as it was them who passed the whistleblower’s concerns to police. Four Season Health Care maintains 350 care homes around Britain, which managers were keen to point out each have separate staff and management teams.

Charlotte Nicholds of Colinton Care Home released a statement regarding the investigation:

”The well-being of the people in our care is our priority and we have an active whistle-blowing policy that encourages our residents, relatives and staff to raise any concerns they may have about any aspect of care and these are always followed up and referred to relevant authorities as appropriate so that they may be investigated in a thorough and transparent way”.

Earlier abuse at Colinton

This is not the first time that Colinton Care Home has come under fire for its staff’s conduct. In may 2007 nurse Jeffrey Ednalan, 34, was jailed for fifteen months for deliberately antagonising patients. The abuse included two counts of indecent assault and an incident in which Ednalan put a deodorant can in a 95 year old man’s mouth to prevent him shouting.

Changes in Scottish whistleblowing law

It was announced in 2014 that independent national officers will be appointed to assess how cases of whistleblowing are handled by the NHS across Scotland. These “whistleblowing champions” will be selected across the Scottish health board to support staff members in the hope it will give them the confidence to come forward.

This alteration comes shortly after the release of a UK government report named Freedom to Speak Up by Sir Robert Francis, which documented the experiences of several whistleblowers and revealed a culture of intimidation that caused staff to be bullied and isolated from their peers after whisteblowing.

The report was taken very seriously. Scotland’s Health Secretary, Shona Robison, says she wants all NHS staff to “have the confidence to speak up without fear” about patient safety.