Whistleblowing protections should be strengthened to prevent the bullying and persecution of NHS staff who raise concerns about safety, a union has said.
The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) warned that the failure to tackle the bullying of staff who make protected disclosures is “fatally undermining efforts to prevent the next big NHS safety scandal”, and has called for the establishment of an independent statutory body to monitor the treatment of those who raise safety concerns.
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HCSA president Dr Naru Narayanan said: “The intolerable cover-up culture by managers that we still see in corners of the NHS is bad for patients and bad for doctors.
“Many of the cases our union deals with have whistleblowing at their root, often indirectly and sometimes months or years afterwards. Doctors have been pushed towards taking their own lives due to the abject failure of a system which punishes them when they should be receiving gratitude.
“For too many doctors, the brave, professionally obligated and morally correct step of reporting safety concerns is rewarded with attempts to silence and force out the individual who reports problems by managers focused on protecting reputations.”
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