Whistleblowing is crucial for a "world class" NHS

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2514

Published 23 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2514
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2514

Letters

Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing is crucial for a "world class" NHS

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

People’s willingness to highlight justifiable concernsis predicated on their working in a safe, sound, and supportivecontext.¹ The term whistleblowing implies that such a functionis special or exceptional. It should be a systemic and systematicpart of any organisation’s gathering of feedback intelligenceinforming it how well it is doing. It seems perverse that theNHS, a "learning organisation", is not regularly consideringall available experiences and feedback to inform and optimiseits functions.

The message from many who have worked with doctors who haveblown their cover and any whistle and then lost their jobs andcareers in the NHS is: "Don’t do it"—at least alone.The rhetoric and the policies are full of worthy words, butmany doctors have mortgages and families to educate, as wellas any duty of care to the public and those they manage, employ,or treat.

The best way to ensure . . . [Full text of this article]

Christopher L Manning, director¹

¹ UPstream Healthcare, Teddington TW11 9HG

chris.manning@upstreamhealthcare.org