Whistleblower line ‘useless’
Confidential number extended by a year to allow a further review
A LEADING whistleblower has claimed a confidential phone line for staff who wish to raise concerns from within NHS Scotland is “worse than useless”.
The NHS Scotland Confidential Alert Line for health service employees has now been running for three years.
It was set up to provide an addi- tional level of independent and external support and advice for staff should they have any concerns about how or whether to act as a whistleblower.
According to the Scottish Government a one-year extension will allow ministers to continue to review the service alongside the wider package of measures developed over the past few years.
A new Independent National Whistleblowing Officer is to be introduced to scrutinise the handling of whistleblowing cases.
Non-executive Whistleblowing Champions have also been appointed in each health board.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “The Scottish Government’s aim is that all staff should have the confidence to speak up without fear and with the knowledge that any genuine concern will be treated ser iously and investig ated properly.
“That is why we set up the NHS Confidential Alert Line. It provides staff with independent support and advice as well as an additional safe place where they can confidentially raise any concerns they may have about malpractice and wrongdoing in NHS Scotland.
“I have always been clear that health boards must ensure that it is safe and acceptable for staff to speak up about any concerns they may have, particularly in relation to patient safety.
But Dr Jane Hamilton, the whistleblowing doctor who was at the centre of a gagging row with NHS Lothian in 2014, believes it is still not nearly enough.
She said that whilst the news about the phone line represented at least some acknowledgement of the problems that exist within the NHS in Scotland, for staff, as well as patients and families, it was flawed.
“The mere provision of a help line which has no independent investigatory or disciplinary powers is literally worse than useless. Advertising a help line – based in London – raises hopes for callers but the standard response which many, including myself, have experienced is simply to be referred back to the very health boards where the problems occurred in the first place, for internal investigation.”
Meanwhile, the level of support for a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for a safer way for NHS workers to report mismanagement, safety concerns or bullying, has swamped the parliament’s website ahead of today’s deadline.