David Oliver: NHS staff who raise concerns about unsafe care must be protected and supported

Shortly after Labour’s election victory the new health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, reiterated his party’s manifesto pledge to bring in professional standards, regulation, and registration for NHS managers. He said in an interview, “NHS managers who silence whistleblowers will be out and will never work for the NHS again . . . I want people to have the confidence to speak out and come forward.”1In this government’s first few months I’m sure that we’ll see far more detail on plans to improve patient safety, learn from mistakes, and reduce risk, as well as proposed regulation of managers. But I hope that we don’t lose the focus on supporting and listening to staff who raise concerns. Crucially, we’ll need to do far more to change a culture in which those who speak up to line managers, or speak out to external agencies or the media, are risking their career,…
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