Скачать или смотреть A NHS ex-employee describes his distress at the lack of support from his London NHS Trust employers

Speaking out safely continues to be a highly emotional issue, but a very important one.

Roger Kline is a member of Patients First, an associate of Public World and Visiting Research Fellow at Middlesex University.

"Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says that 'the era of gagging NHS staff from raising their real worries about patient care' must end. He says there will be an immediate ban on public interest gagging clauses in NHS severance agreements, writes Roger Kline.

This is good news, but NHS staff will be forgiven if they treat this with a pinch of salt. This is the fifth statement since 1999 by Health Ministers banning such unlawful gagging clauses. This could indeed be a tipping point but only if this statement has more impact than its four predecessors.

The Francis Inquiry report last month rightly asked the question as to why staff had failed to raise concerns and why it has been left to relatives of hospital patients, not NHS staff, managers or regulators to expose the scandal.

For 14 years there has been a steady stream of Ministerial and other official statements banning the victimisation of whistleblowers. Since 1999 every trust and health authority has had to comply with the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA). The NHS Constitution provides for a contractual right to whistleblow and raise concerns."

There have been interesting articles recently,

The ethics of whistleblowing by Steve Bolsin, Bristol NHS whistleblower

Accidental Whistleblowers, Bullying and Employment Law. Whistleblower Kathy Pidgeon is guest blogger at bulliedbytheboss.
http://bulliedbythebossblog.blogspot....

Article about changes to whistleblowing laws.
http://www.personneltoday.com/article...