Speaking up or blowing the whistle for better, safer care

In modern healthcare systems, not all care is as good or as safe as it could be and there is growing evidence to suggest about one in ten patients admitted to hospital may be harmed as a result of their admission. This chapter draws on some recent work funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research to explore the ways in which front-line voices are heard or silenced in the English NHS. It explores various aspects of whistleblowing and the organisational actions seen in response. The chapter presents the policy background and the legal protections afforded to whistleblowers and concludes that there is much more yet to be done if front-line staff are to be given an effective voice. Recent legal developments concerning whistleblowing in the NHS can be seen as deriving from the case of Grahame Pink, a nurse at Stockport General Infirmary who blew the whistle about poor patient care at the hospital in the late 1980s.