Scottish NHS whistle-blower line taking UK calls

More than a third of calls to a confidential phone line which allows health workers in Scotland to raise concerns about NHS practices have come from other parts of the UK.

The line allows health workers to raise concerns. Picture: Julie Bull

The National Confidential Alert Line has received 53 calls since its launch last month.

Of those, 19 were from NHS workers in other parts of the UK, with the rest from staff in Scotland.

Among the calls from within Scotland, 23 were of people anonymously raising concern about practices in the NHS and the other 11 calls were about personnel or contractual matters.

Concerns raised by employees are said to have been passed to the relevant authority for investigation.

Failings

The phone line, which opened on April 2 as a year-long pilot, was introduced in the wake of the Francis Inquiry which uncovered “appalling” failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in England.

Health Secretary Alex Neil said: “It is vitally important that all NHS workers feel that they can raise any concerns they may have about patient safety and malpractice because it helps to improve our health service.

“We have created a way that staff can speak to an independent organisation anonymously, safely and confidentially. I have also been clear that any areas of concern have to be investigated so that lessons will be learned.”

Lessons

A total of 158,000 fliers were distributed among NHS Scotland staff in March to raise awareness of the phone line and 5,000 posters were put up.

This publicity drive will continue to “make sure that everyone who needs it knows about this service”, he said.

“We are also planning further promotion throughout the year to make sure all staff are aware of this important resource, including information on wage slips.

“While the Francis Inquiry focused on NHS England, we can still learn lessons about our NHS listening to staff and patients and learning from mistakes.”