Relevance of the paper to the panel topic:
The aim of this paper is to contribute to panel discussions with a context-based empirical study of attempts to regulate and improve the ability to raise concerns about quality and safety in healthcare settings. It draws attention to how the practices of regulation (in the form of whistleblowing legislation) can be distorted by specific factors related to the historical, cultural, and institutional contexts in which whistleblowing takes place. Based on the current challenges facing whistleblowing policy, the paper also looks to introduce new ideas and practices that further our understandings on effective governance, policy-making and implementation in this area.
Significance of the research
Whistleblowing – the disclosure, either to a person in authority or in public, of information concerning unsafe, unethical or illegal practices – is central to current debates about addressing poor standards of care in the UK National Health Service. Since the 1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act, all NHS organisations have been required to have policy and procedures in place for dealing with whistleblowing. Yet, the story up to now is that the NHS remains largely unsupportive of whistleblowing, with many staff fearful of going outside official channels to bring unsafe care to light. Despite the existence of policies, little support has been given to staff attempting to raise concerns.
While these serious concerns about the effectiveness of current whistleblowing polices continue to be debated, there is a lack of firm evidence regarding effective whistleblowing practice. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to distil the theory and evidence in order to help shape whistleblowing polices in the NHS.
Research question(s) and method
The purpose of this paper is to present a series of 16 elite interviews with policy makers, regulators, trade unions, consultants, advocates, and academics regarding the views, expectations and experiences of current whistleblowing policy in the NHS.
Theoretical/conceptual foundations for the research
The paper will situate its analysis of whistleblowing policy within established literature concerning whistleblowing, employee silence, and raising concerns. The theoretical/conceptual perspectives underpinning the paper have a number of connections with social psychology, socio-legal studies, and public policy perspectives.
Results to be reported
As one of the first studies of whistleblowing policy in the NHS (Mannion et al HS&DR - 14/04/33: Understanding employee whistleblowing in health care), the paper looks to provide a range of insights into the development of new national whistleblowing policy along with the opportunities and challenges facing these proposals.
