Whistleblowing and patient safety: the patient's or the profession's interests at stake?

Abstract

Whistleblowing has a tortured history in the NHS although it has been recognized by authoritative reviewers as making an important contribution to patient safety.1,2 In a highly critical 6th Report the House of Commons Health Committee stated ‘The NHS remains largely unsupportive of whistleblowing, with many staff fearful about the consequences of going outside official channels to bring unsafe care to light. We recommend that the Department of Health (DH) bring forward proposals on how to improve this situation.’3 Encouraging the medical profession to report poor care and to report incidents that occur in their practice has been problematical in modern healthcare although there are notable exceptions.4 This article discusses why a change in the attitude of the profession is required, what the benefits will be and how it can be achieved.