NHSScotland whistleblowing helpline evaluation: 1 February to 31 October 2019
Evaluation by Protect of the NHS Scotland whistleblowing helpline during the period 1 February 2019 to 31 October 2019.
Types of concerns raised
We provide below an overview of the types of concerns that were raised during this and the previous review period.
| 1 February 2019 – 31 October 2019 (current reporting period) | 1 August 2018 – 31 January 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of suspected wrongdoing | Count | Percentage | Count | Percentage |
| Abuse of a vulnerable person | 1 | 4.2% | 2 | 5.9% |
| Crime | 1 | 4.2% | 0 | 0% |
| Ethical | 3 | 12.5% | 4 | 11.8% |
| Financial malpractice | 2 | 8.3% | 2 | 5.9% |
| Patient safety | 13 | 37.5% | 14 | 41.2% |
| Public safety | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Working Practices | 7 | 16.7% | 9 | 26.5% |
| Work safety | 3 | 8.3% | 2 | 5.9% |
| Other | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | 2.9% |
| Unknown | 2 | 8.3% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Total | 33 | 100% | 34 | 100% |
Patient safety was the predominant concern raised with the alert line which is to be expected bearing in mind the nature of the work NHS Scotland workers undertake. This has been a consistent trend across the previous reports provided in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and now 2019. We received a significant number of concerns raised about working practices which could include breaches of policies, financial mismanagement, concerns about governance or recruitment procedures, harassment or discrimination or systemic breaches of employment law.
Of the total 26 public cases, 22 callers had already raised their concern before contacting the Alert Line. This is in keeping with general trends we have seen in previous reports and largely reflects the majority of calls we receive to the advice line generally. In many cases individuals are contacting us because they have already raised their concern and feel it is being ignored and would like further advice on options for escalation or they feel they have experienced victimisation due to raising an issue.
Of the callers who had already raised their concern before contacting the Alert and Advice Line, these were raised with:
| 1 February 2019 – 31 October 2019 (current reporting period) | 1 August 2018 – 31 January 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where raised the concern | Count | Percentage | Count | Percentage |
| Manager | 16 | 72.7% | 10 | 50% |
| Senior Management/Executive | 4 | 18.2% | 3 | 15% |
| Prescribed Regulator/scrutiny body | 1 | 4.5% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Multiple | 1 | 4.5% | 3 | 15% |
| Other | 1 | 5% | ||
| Unknown | 3 | 15% | ||
| Total | 22 | 100.0% | 20 | 100% |
This reporting period is consistent with previous reporting periods in that Managers and Senior Management are the most common avenues used by individuals who raise concerns before calling the Alert and Advice Line.
Contact
Email: John.malone@gov.scot
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