NHS: Disclosure of Information

(asked on 26th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of protections for NHS whistleblowers who make disclosures about administrative malpractice.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 4th July 2018

Speaking up and raising concerns should be routine in business in the National Health Service and is a key part of ensuring patient safety and improving the quality of services. The Government supports the right of staff working in the NHS to raise concerns and expects all NHS organisations to support staff that wish to do so in line with the principles made by the Francis Report in 2015.

NHS workers making disclosures about administrative malpractice are protected by the provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which covers disclosures made on public interest issues, including criminal offences, breaches of legal obligations and danger to the health and safety of the individual.

The Government has also introduced a range of measures to protect whistleblowers in recent years. These changes include:

-Legislation to impose a duty on prescribed persons (such as the Care Quality Commission and the professional regulatory bodies) to report annually on whistleblowing disclosures made to them;

-Extending the definition of ‘worker’ within the whistleblowing statutory framework to include and protect student nurses and student midwives; and

-The Employment Rights Act 1996 (NHS Recruitment - Protected Disclosure) Regulations came into force on 23 May 2018 to prohibit certain NHS employers from discriminating against job applicants because it appears to the employer that the applicant has made certain disclosures of information.

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