Health secretary urges against culture of 'institutional self-defence' as former bosses of Lincolnshire trust speak out
The health secretary has written to the head of every NHS trust to urge them not use legal blocks on whistleblowers.
Jeremy Hunt warned against a culture of "institutional self-defence that prevents honest acknowledgement of failure".
In the letter he said it was vital to "recognise and celebrate staff" who had the "courage and professional integrity" to speak out over safety concerns in order to avoid a repeat of the Mid-Staffordshire scandal.
Hunt's letter follows the government's announcement of its intention to amend whistleblowing legislation to protect those who speak out from being victimised, harassed and even sacked by their employers.
In a private letter sent on Wednesday to MPs and peers campaigning for the Public Interest Disclosure Act (Pida) 1998 to be changed, the employment relations minister, Jo Swinson, promised a series of amendments to the legislation, followed by "a call for evidence" by the government to examine whether the act is, as campaigners claim, not "fit for purpose".
Meanwhile, a second whistleblower has claimed that the head of the NHS ignored written warnings about failings in a hospital trust which is being investigated for persistently high death rates.
David Bowles, the former chairman of United Lincolnshire hospitals trust (ULHT), said he sent a letter in July 2009 to the chief executive of the NHS, Sir David Nicholson, warning that patients could die because managers were being forced to meet unrealistic targets. He claimed Nicholson failed to investigate the detailed allegations properly.
This week, Gary Walker, the former chief executive of ULHT, claimed he was gagged, threatened and prevented from raising patient safety concerns.
Hunt warned senior NHS executives on Friday that there would be consequences if they had wrongly gagged Walker for speaking out about patient safety.
"I don't think this is acceptable. I think it is the wrong thing to do," he said. Hunt told the BBC he had written to the trust to find out the contents of Walker's settlement so he could establish if it was in line with NHS guidelines on whistleblowing. "If it isn't, of course I will insist that they change it," he said.
"First of all, we must have a culture where people are not afraid to speak out and secondly I was very concerned that it appeared that someone was being leaned on not to speak out, and most of all I want to get to the bottom of whether there is any truth in what he was saying."
Walker welcomed Hunt's intervention as a "very positive move" but said the threat of action against him for an interview with the BBC's Today programme on Thursday had still not been lifted.
He also suggested that Whitehall had a hand in prompting the action and should also be investigated.
"The threat against me has still not been withdrawn, despite the reassurance that it should not be in place," he said on Saturday. "I don't think I want to be too negative about Mr Hunt. He has clearly taken a personal interest and said that he will personally carry out the investigation and get to the bottom of it."
He questioned though how the trust had known in advance of his decision to speak out.
"The trust were never contacted by me or the Today programme so somebody from the Department of Health, and I do not know who that was, clearly spoke to them," he said. "I don't think that Mr Hunt can investigate his own department so I think he should be looking for someone exceptionally independent from all of this so I don't think it should be a civil service investigation. The whole chain of command needs to be looked at if Mr Hunt wants to stand by the transparency agenda."
Campaigners question whether the government is committed to changing the act as much as they say is necessary to fulfil its stated role of providing a robust legal safety net for those revealing wrongdoing, crime, risk or malpractice in their workplaces.
"In its current form, Pida is dangerous for whistleblowers because people think they have stronger protection under it than they actually do," said Lord Touhig, who was involved in the drafting and consultation stages of the original bill.
The legislation, Touhig explained, was drawn up in an era when "scandals like Savile or Mid Staffs were not thought possible". He said: "There are parts of the legislation that are simply not appropriate any longer and contain all sorts of problems.
"It is tired, frayed at the edges and needs to be thoroughly reviewed. But I'm not entirely reassured by this letter that the government genuinely intends to do that."
via The Guardian World News http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/16/jeremy-hunt-nhs-bosses-whistleblowing
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