NHS Constitution to be revamped to enshrine rights of whistle-blowers

The NHS Constitution and its handbook will be tightened to prevent trusts from suppressing staff concerns about safety, malpractice or wrongdoing, the Health Secretary has announced.

Andrew Lansley, who insisted that a culture of fear and secrecy was rare in the NHS, said staff would also have a constitutional obligation to blow the whistle.

In a consultation paper, the Department of Health has proposed three key changes to the NHS Constitution:

• “highlighting existing legal rights of all staff to raise concerns about safety, malpractice or other wrongdoing without fear of dismissal or other ramifications
• introducing an NHS pledge that employers will support all staff in raising such concerns, responding to and where necessary investigating concerns raised, and
• creating an expectation that NHS staff will raise concerns about safety, malpractice or wrongdoing at work which may affect patients, the public, other staff or the organisation itself as early as possible.”

According to the consultation paper, “the current legal protection available to staff who wish to raise concerns is strong but implementation on the ground has not always been consistent or effective”.

It said: “Whilst the clinical instincts and professional ethos of NHS staff are the most effective guardians of safe, effective and respectful care, all too often staff who have spoken up for patients have found themselves punished rather than celebrated.”

The paper added that the government was determined to enhance the protection available to staff and to “give teeth” to the current safeguards under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 for those wishing to raise concerns.

The Health Secretary said the changes could help prevent failures such as those investigated at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Lansley said: “A public inquiry into the failings at Mid-Staffordshire is already underway. But it’s important that we don’t delay making changes to prevent such failures from happening again. The NHS Constitution must be brought up to date to enshrine the rights of staff.

“Staff should be working in an environment where they feel able to voice concerns and know that their concerns will be taken seriously. The changes we are consulting on take that a step further. Staff will be expected to raise concerns and employers must support them and investigate where necessary. That means better patient care and better staff morale.”

In September, the NHS Staff Council agreed that all staff working in the NHS had a contractual right and duty to report genuine concerns about malpractice, patient safety or other serious risks that they consider in the public interest.

Meanwhile, new guidance on whistle-blowing was published in June 2010 for the NHS, developed through the Social Partnership Forum (SPF) with advice from the independent charity Public Concern at Work.

The consultation on the NHS Constitution closes on 20 January 2011. A copy can be downloaded here.