Nurses told don’t blow whistle on patient safety and staff numbers

INCREASING numbers of Scottish nurses are being told not to report their concerns about patient safety and staffing levels, according to a new survey.

A total of 37 per cent of nurses said they had been discouraged or told directly not to be whistleblowers, up from 24 per cent just two years ago.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which conducted the survey, reported that with fewer nurses in Scotland, an “overwhelming majority” of its members were worried about victimisation, personal reprisals or a negative effect on their career if they made complaints.

Nurses have also lost confidence that their employer would protect them if they spoke out, dropping from 43 per cent in 2009 to 29 per cent this year.

More than half said no action was taken when they raised concerns, up from a third two years ago, and just 17 per cent of employers took immediate action, slightly lower than for the UK as a whole and down in Scotland from 24 per cent in 2009.

RCN Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said: “It is extremely worrying that nurses are being explicitly told not to raise concerns, particularly after all we have learnt about the consequences of ignoring issues around patient safety.

“We are very concerned that nurses are not being listened to, particularly as we know that more than 2,000 nurses have been cut from the NHS workforce in Scotland since September 2009 and that staff are feeling over-stretched and under pressure.

“In these circumstances, it’s more important than ever that they’re listened to when they raise their concerns about patient safety and about staffing levels.”

The survey of 3,151 nurses in the UK, including 345 in Scotland, found that 84 per cent were concerned about victimisation, reprisals or a negative effect on their career if they reported concerns to their employers.

RCN Scotland said nurses are professionally required to report concerns and called on the Scottish Government to ensure all health boards implement a recently revised whistleblowing policy. The organisation said increased awareness of the laws around whistleblowing had improved in the past two years.

The British Medical Association in Scotland agreed that employers were making it difficult for staff to speak out.

A BMA spokeswoman said: “As clinical leaders, doctors know and understand that they have a contractual right and an ethical duty to speak out. But many NHS employers make speaking out difficult or dangerous for individuals.

“Ultimately this results in staff failing to raise concerns. That is why we have called for the NHS to improve awareness and implementation of whistleblowing policies.”

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said medical staff needed to have confidence to speak out against poor care.

She said: “Nurses need to raise their concerns if they see care that is unacceptable and should not be in a situation where they are afraid to because of worries about reprisals.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said nursing levels had increased by 2,500 since 2006, with the overall NHS workforce up by 3.4 per cent.

He said: “Safety in hospitals is taken extremely seriously by the Scottish Government. That’s why all staff are encouraged to raise any concerns and why the Scottish patient safety programme was established to improve the safety of hospital care right across the country.

“The health secretary will also not tolerate nurses or any other staff being told not to raise concerns. We will continue to scrutinise boards’ workforce planning.”