28 July 2019
In July of this year the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Whistleblowing published the first of its three reports - ‘Whistleblowing: The Personal Cost of Doing the Right Thing and the Cost to Society of Ignoring it’ https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/88d04c_9754e54bc641443db902cd963687cb55.pdf The focus of this report is upon the experiences and opinions of whistleblowers themselves. The work covers all work sectors, but gives three examples from across the NHS, that of Gosport, Mid-Staffs, and Morecombe Bay hospitals, where the message of the ‘truth tellers’ and whistleblowers was rejected. The Forward states that ‘On 10th July 2018 we held our inaugural meeting, well attended by MP’s, whistleblower constituents, the press and civil society organisations. Gosport Memorial Hospital was in the news that day, how whistleblowers had been ignored or silenced and how if they had been heeded lives could have been saved.’ Stephen Kerr MP (Chair of the APPG) goes on to say that ‘Whistleblowers are the first line of defence against crime, corruption and cover ups’ and ‘This report shines a light on a culture that too often supports the covering up of wrongdoing and the penalising of whistleblowers. With increasing focus on organisational culture and new global laws and regulations to support transparency and whistleblowers, the UK needs a comprehensive, transparent and accessible framework and an organisation that will support whistleblowers and whistleblowing.’. The report covers in some depth the ‘Cycle of abuse’. None of this will be of surprise to anyone who has watched the behaviour of NHS organisations when responding to ‘bad news’ and a challenge to authority. They don’t like ‘dirty linen’ being ‘washed in public’, and having their ‘shiny image’ tarnished. Following reporting of a concern there is some, or all, of the ‘Cycle of abuse’:
A multiple of recommendations are made by the APPG including the banning of NDAs. We can only hope that this report has an impact, and that parliament finally wakes up to the importance of supporting and protecting ‘truth tellers’/whistleblowers in all the different sectors. It will benefit us all.
0 Comments
|