Calls To Encourage Staff To Raise Care Concerns

The NHS should look to foster a more open culture across its sites and encourage staff to raise concerns over patient safety or standards of care before it is too late, a medical law expert at Irwin Mitchell has urged.

According to the Cross-Party Health Select Committee of MPs, changes should be made to the current system of regulation which will ensure more people report any issues they discover either about colleagues or problems in general.

It has been suggested that medical professionals should also be faced with investigation if they do not bring any problems to light as soon as possible.

The General Medical Council has responded to the recommendations and highlighted its determination to do more to address the issue of whistle-blowing within the NHS.

Mandy Luckman, a medical negligence expert and Partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The safety of patients depends on staff doing everything in their power to ensure that people are receiving the best possible standard of care.

“It is a worry that there are concerns that the current system prevents doctors and nurses from coming forward over potential problems, as the consequences of not doing so could have a massive impact on the care offered to many people.

“A rethink on this is evidently needed, as time and again we see cases where problems could have potentially been prevented if safety concerns related to NHS care were raised at the earliest opportunity.

“I hope that everything possible is done to consider this issue and propose a new system which allows and encourages staff to share information openly and honestly across the organisation.”