NHS managers are destroying the careers of whistleblowers who raise concerns about patient safety, a group of medics warns.
More than 50 doctors and nurses have told The Telegraph they have been targeted after raising concerns about upwards of 170 patient deaths and nearly 700 cases of poor care. One consultant described it as “the biggest scandal within our country” and said the true number of avoidable deaths was “astronomical”.
Instead of trying to fix the problems, the whistleblowers claim NHS bosses are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money hiring law firms and private eyes to investigate them instead, leading many medics to quit the profession in despair.
In one case, the NHS spent more than £4 million on legal action against a single whistleblower, which included £3.2 million in compensation.
Writing for The Telegraph, Prof Phil Banfield, chairman of the council of the British Medical Association, which represents doctors, said whistleblowing “is not welcomed by NHS management … NHS trusts and senior managers are more concerned with protecting personal and organisational reputations than they are with protecting patients”.
He said the end result was that patient safety was being put at risk.
The same tactics are being repeated in hospitals up and down the UK, with some doctors – including some of the country’s most skilled surgeons – being suspended from work for years after raising patient safety concerns, effectively ending their careers.
Several have been driven to the brink of suicide after being “pulled to pieces” for fulfilling their legal and moral duty to raise the alarm when they believe patients are at risk.
In some cases, NHS managers are accused of falsifying or destroying evidence to make whistleblowers appear to be the guilty ones.
**Protecting reputations**
Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, told The Telegraph: “Every member of staff in the NHS should feel able to speak up without fear, and it’s essential that any concerns are taken very seriously to improve patient safety.”
She said the Government had introduced measures to tackle the problem but “I know there is still more to do”.
The law meant to protect whistleblowers is the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, under which workers have the right “not to be subjected to any detriment by any act…by his employer done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure”.
But many whistleblowers say the law lacks teeth and has failed to prevent them being targeted by managers whom they say are more concerned with protecting reputations.
The case has parallels with the Post Office scandal, as targeted doctors have begun holding weekly meetings where their numbers grow each time, exposing the true scale of the problem.
The Telegraph has interviewed 52 doctors and nurses whose employers at 41 different trusts and clinics turned on them after they made so-called protected disclosures under laws that are meant to protect whistleblowers from retaliation.
Between them, they raised concerns about a total of 177 deaths and 680 instances of patient harm. Because NHS managers decided to put the whistleblowers under investigation, rather than addressing their concerns, they claim that most of the harm – 129 deaths and 413 non-fatal injuries – happened after they had first reported the problems.
Even this is only “the tip of the iceberg”, according to doctors’ representatives, who believe thousands of people have been driven out of the NHS in similar circumstances. One law firm claims to be aware of 1,600 current cases of NHS whistleblowers taking action against their employers.
Once whistleblowers have been put under investigation – and often hauled before the General Medical Council on trumped-up charges that are typically dismissed as baseless – it takes on average six years, three months and 19 days to resolve their cases.
By the time their ordeal is over, they are often broken physically, mentally and psychologically and many are unable to work again. Of the 52 doctors, midwives and nurses who spoke to The Telegraph, only 27 remain in full NHS employment.
The stress of GMC hearings really can’t be understood by people who are unaware of what that process is like. I was once registered with the GDC and it was the same – I lived in fear of a complaint reaching them. I personally knew great dentists who were destroyed by the Fitness to Practice hearings, and the stress of that sword dangling over my head was one of the (many) reasons I decided to leave that profession behind.
ange7327 on
Sadly, this is absolutely true and appalling. It is easy to find the real stories online and people have lost everything, it is shameful. No wonder people don’t want to come into the so called caring professions.
Niceicescoop on
The whole system of junior doctors training makes it very difficult to whistleblow… all juniors (up to registrar) need lots of workplace based assessments signing off, multi source feedback etc
This makes it much more difficult to criticise your workplace because you really need the people permanently there to sign you off.
Sadly I would include some consultants in this
group-special mention to the QEH in Birmingham. The most miserable and toxic place to work, and the worst ones there were a group of consultants and senior nurses
4 Comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
NHS managers are destroying the careers of whistleblowers who raise concerns about patient safety, a group of medics warns.
More than 50 doctors and nurses have told The Telegraph they have been targeted after raising concerns about upwards of 170 patient deaths and nearly 700 cases of poor care. One consultant described it as “the biggest scandal within our country” and said the true number of avoidable deaths was “astronomical”.
Instead of trying to fix the problems, the whistleblowers claim NHS bosses are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money hiring law firms and private eyes to investigate them instead, leading many medics to quit the profession in despair.
In one case, the NHS spent more than £4 million on legal action against a single whistleblower, which included £3.2 million in compensation.
Writing for The Telegraph, Prof Phil Banfield, chairman of the council of the British Medical Association, which represents doctors, said whistleblowing “is not welcomed by NHS management … NHS trusts and senior managers are more concerned with protecting personal and organisational reputations than they are with protecting patients”.
He said the end result was that patient safety was being put at risk.
The same tactics are being repeated in hospitals up and down the UK, with some doctors – including some of the country’s most skilled surgeons – being suspended from work for years after raising patient safety concerns, effectively ending their careers.
Several have been driven to the brink of suicide after being “pulled to pieces” for fulfilling their legal and moral duty to raise the alarm when they believe patients are at risk.
In some cases, NHS managers are accused of falsifying or destroying evidence to make whistleblowers appear to be the guilty ones.
**Protecting reputations**
Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, told The Telegraph: “Every member of staff in the NHS should feel able to speak up without fear, and it’s essential that any concerns are taken very seriously to improve patient safety.”
She said the Government had introduced measures to tackle the problem but “I know there is still more to do”.
The law meant to protect whistleblowers is the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, under which workers have the right “not to be subjected to any detriment by any act…by his employer done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure”.
But many whistleblowers say the law lacks teeth and has failed to prevent them being targeted by managers whom they say are more concerned with protecting reputations.
The case has parallels with the Post Office scandal, as targeted doctors have begun holding weekly meetings where their numbers grow each time, exposing the true scale of the problem.
The Telegraph has interviewed 52 doctors and nurses whose employers at 41 different trusts and clinics turned on them after they made so-called protected disclosures under laws that are meant to protect whistleblowers from retaliation.
Between them, they raised concerns about a total of 177 deaths and 680 instances of patient harm. Because NHS managers decided to put the whistleblowers under investigation, rather than addressing their concerns, they claim that most of the harm – 129 deaths and 413 non-fatal injuries – happened after they had first reported the problems.
Even this is only “the tip of the iceberg”, according to doctors’ representatives, who believe thousands of people have been driven out of the NHS in similar circumstances. One law firm claims to be aware of 1,600 current cases of NHS whistleblowers taking action against their employers.
Once whistleblowers have been put under investigation – and often hauled before the General Medical Council on trumped-up charges that are typically dismissed as baseless – it takes on average six years, three months and 19 days to resolve their cases.
By the time their ordeal is over, they are often broken physically, mentally and psychologically and many are unable to work again. Of the 52 doctors, midwives and nurses who spoke to The Telegraph, only 27 remain in full NHS employment.
**Full story here:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/15/nhs-bosses-destroy-careers-whistleblowers-avoidable-deaths/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/15/nhs-bosses-destroy-careers-whistleblowers-avoidable-deaths/)
The stress of GMC hearings really can’t be understood by people who are unaware of what that process is like. I was once registered with the GDC and it was the same – I lived in fear of a complaint reaching them. I personally knew great dentists who were destroyed by the Fitness to Practice hearings, and the stress of that sword dangling over my head was one of the (many) reasons I decided to leave that profession behind.
Sadly, this is absolutely true and appalling. It is easy to find the real stories online and people have lost everything, it is shameful. No wonder people don’t want to come into the so called caring professions.
The whole system of junior doctors training makes it very difficult to whistleblow… all juniors (up to registrar) need lots of workplace based assessments signing off, multi source feedback etc
This makes it much more difficult to criticise your workplace because you really need the people permanently there to sign you off.
Sadly I would include some consultants in this
group-special mention to the QEH in Birmingham. The most miserable and toxic place to work, and the worst ones there were a group of consultants and senior nurses