eyes

On 17th April this year I wrote in PPlog:

The Scourging of Margaret Heywood

This is horrifying. It is beyond belief that the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing (UKCC) can strike off a professional colleague for doing all she can to expose malpractice and uphold the rights of vulnerable patients. What sort of human values are they supposed to be espousing and what messages are they giving to practising nurses?

I said in 1992 in my speech in Parliament (see below) for the launch of the whistleblowing support organization, Freedom to Care:

"It is common knowledge that staff in Ashworth were trying to make themselves heard for years before the the inquiry led by Louis Blom Cooper was instigated. At least one social worker in North Wales made exhaustive attempts over a long period to bring to notice the alleged abuses in residential child care - attempts that eroded her professional status and eventually led to her livelihood... Something is definitely not working and the evidence, anecdotal and concrete, strongly points to closures of ranks; corporate cover ups; and organisational collusion with institutional abuse..."

17 years ain't brought much change then!

Whistle-blowers set up support group

BY LINDA CHAMBERLAIN

Calls were made last week for health and social workers to he protected by law if they speak out against bad practice.

The launch of the support group, Freedom to Care, heard that whistle-blowers were too often silenced by the loss of their jobs, and by cover-ups.

Derek Fatchett, MP, is planning to introduce a Private Member's Bill to give them protection. He is also attempting to amend schedule 5 of the Employment Bill, which had its second reading this week.

The Bill gives rights to people complaining about health and safety, and Fatchett wants that extended to fraud and malpractice.

Mike Cox, day services manager for Suffolk SSD and a BASW representative on the group, said social workers who knew about abuse in north Wales, Leicestershire, and Ashworth Hospital had attempted to speak out but were suppressed.

cox 'Something is badly awry here. Evidence strongly points to closure of ranks, corporate cover-ups and an institutional malaise,' he said.

And he feared that care workers in the private sector faced even greater hurdles in trying to complain. 'We know of many people who want to speak out about issues ranging from employment of under-aged people to malpractice,' he said.

Freedom to Care, which has about 120 members, is an informal network of people including doctors, nurses and lawyers, but so far only a few social workers. It aims to provide support and guidance to whistle-blowers, and suggests they act in groups if possible.

Tony Benn, MP, who attended the launch, said parliamentary privilege could be used to protect people. He suggested anyone exposing malpractice should pelition an MP who can then raise the issue in the Commons. Attempts to cover-up or discipline an employee could then he in breach of privilege.

The unions NALGO, NUPE and COHSE will be urging the government to include local authority staff in its draft guidance which gives protection to whistle-blowers in the NHS.

Care Weekly 09.11.92.

In those early years when we were campaigning against the rather anodyne or even subltly repressive policies of Virginia Bottomley et al, the NHS SUPPORT FEDERATION, Director, Rob Yeldham and later, Paul Evans in tandem with Freedom to Care and Public Concern at Work did some excellent, largely unsung work bringing together interested parties including:

The Federation held all these bodies together through regular meetings at the Public Concern at Work offices. One of the early documents produced by Rob was this:

Whistle While You Work

Protecting the client in the caring services

Am I A Whistle Blower?

Do you have a worry about the service you provide, about the treatment of individuals, the level of service or the possibility of fraud?

Do you have no way to get these concerns looked at? Are you considering talking to the press, your MP or somebody else?

If the answer to these questions is yes then you are a whistle blower.

Why Whistle Blowing Is Important.

  • The people you look after are often not able to judge when things are going wrong. They do not know whether there are fewer staff and less care. They may be unable or afraid to complain about ill treatment. They won't know if fraud is going on.

  • Often it is only staff who can spot problems. Good employers have systems which encourage staff to raise their concerns openly. This protects users, providers and purchasers of care.

  • Many care professionals are regulated by codes of conduct which require staff to raise issues in the public interest. For example the UKCC Code of Conduct for nurses, midwives and health visitors.

How To Complain.

  1. In the first instance try to raise concerns informally with someone in authority, if they can not put your mind at rest

  2. Contact your trade union or professional association. They can give you advice and support and may take up the issue themselves. If you are not a member of a union or if there is some other problem

  3. Check whether there is a formal complaints procedure. Department of Health Guidance on Staff Relations with the Press and Public asks health service bodies to set up complaints procedures. You may be able to use council complaints procedures (legally required under the Children Act and NHS & Community Care Act for comp1aints about social services. If there is no complaint procedure or if there is some other problem

  4. The NHS Support Federation, Leicestershire Hospital Alert, and MPs Tony Benn and David Blunkett are willing to publicise your concerns anonymously. Public Concern at Work and Freedom to Care can provide support, advise and information for whistle blowers and people thinking of whistle blowing. Professional bodies, and local advice centres may also be able to give some advice.

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