NHS: Disclosure of Information

(asked on 1st September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help ensure that NHS whistleblowers are protected when raising concerns.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 14th September 2023

On 4 September 2023, my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced an independent inquiry, to be led by Lady Justice Thirlwall, into the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital and the actions of Lucy Letby. In line with the wishes of the families, this will be a full statutory inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2005, giving it legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath.

The Secretary of State ordered the Inquiry on the day of Lucy Letby’s conviction and has made clear that the wishes of the families will remain central to how the inquiry is taken forward to provide the answers they need. The Secretary of State will make a statement on the Inquiry’s terms of reference at the earliest opportunity.

We have asked NHS Resolution to look at compensation and it will work with the families and their representatives to agree an approach which is sympathetic and fair and minimises any further distress. At this time, the police have arrangements in place to appropriately support families impacted, including psychological support and family liaison officers.

We have taken action to improve patient safety and identify warning signs more quickly and will continue to make improvements. In 2019, we introduced medical examiners across England and Wales to independently scrutinise deaths not investigated by a coroner and will now make this a statutory role.

Additionally, the Secretary of State has asked for the Department and NHS England to revisit recommendation 5 of the Kark review, on disbarring senior managers for serious misconduct.

In 2020, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme was expanded to cover neonatal services. It reviewed England’s neonatal services using detailed data and gave trusts individual improvement plans, which they are working towards.

On 27 March 2023, the Government announced a review of the whistleblowing legal framework. The Government supports the right of staff working in the National Health Service to speak up and raise concerns. There is a range of support and protection in place, including legal protections to prohibit detriment and discrimination against workers and job applicants who have spoken up. The review will examine the effectiveness of the framework in meeting its intended objectives of enabling workers to come forward to speak up about wrongdoing and to protect those who do so against detriment and dismissal.

The Secretary of State has asked the Department and NHS England to explore if introducing ‘Martha’s rule’ would enhance patient safety in England. This could follow Ryan’s rule, established in Queensland, Australia, which allows patients or their families to request a clinical review of their case from a doctor or nurse if their condition is deteriorating or not improving as expected

A formal assessment has not been made of the level of public trust in the safety of neonatal care. NHS England’s Three-Year Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services, published in March 2023, sets out how NHS England will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. The Delivery Plan has provided a clear and co-ordinated direction which will guide maternity services to provide women and families with the care and support they need. There are no plans to do a formal review of the use and access to medicines and equipment in neonatal wards.

On neonatal mortality rates and unexplained deaths, although there are no current plans to launch a nationwide review, the ‘Child Death Review: Statutory and Operational Guidance’ outlines the duties of Child Death Review partners in relation to the processes to be followed when responding to, investigating, and reviewing the death of any child, from any cause. The Child Death Review is a statutory process, which involves a multi-disciplinary child death overview panel to ensure that lessons are learnt from child deaths, that learning is widely shared and actions are taken to reduce preventable child deaths in the future.

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