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Whistleblowing - FAQs

Link to another page on this site Click here to read the UNISON press release on Julia Wassall's whistleblowing case

Link to an external website Click here to read an NHS Executive Health Service circular, issued in 1999, which required NHS employers to have a whistleblowing policy in place and to remove all gagging clauses

Download the entire Duty of Care handbook
Link to a PDF document on this site Acrobat PDF version

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If you have concerns you wish to raise, please raise them with your local UNISON steward or branch secretary or phone UNISON Direct on 0845 355 0845.

Whistleblowing - rights of NHS staff

I've tried raising concerns about the serious impact of poor staffing levels on the quality of patient care in my department, but no one is prepared to do anything. I raised my concerns informally and then took out a grievance, but still nothing happened. What rights do I have to take the matter further?

Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, there is statutory protection for staff where they raise genuine concerns about a range of misconduct and malpractice. Virtually all employees are covered as well as agency staff, trainees, and contractors.

A whistleblower is protected if a disclosure is made in good faith and is about:

a criminal act
a failure to comply with a legal obligation
a miscarriage of justice
a danger to health and safety
damage to the environment
an attempt to cover up any of these

If a whistleblower is victimised, they will be legally protected, but only if they meet the above criteria.

In 1999, Alan Milburn wrote to every NHS employer in England instructing them to establish a whistleblowing (or Freedom of Speech) policy. You can download Health Circular HSC 1999/198 by Link to an external website clicking here. Similar guidance was issued in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This circular required all NHS employers to:

introduce a Freedom of Speech policy which enabled staff to speedily raise relevant concerns, up to a member of the Trust Board, outside of their normal management structure
consult with trade unions on its content
remove "gagging clauses" throughout the organisation

Your Trust should have such a policy and you are entitled to ask for a copy. If your Trust is unable to provide a copy check with your steward or branch secretary whether one exists. If it does not, let your regional officer know.

In December 2000 the National Audit Office issued a report entitled 'Inappropriate adjustments to waiting lists'. This emphasised the need to ensure there were no gagging clauses in any agreements reached where staff left the NHS or received compensation after whistleblowing.

Link to an external website Click here to read the National Audit Office press release setting this out

Whistleblowing - what to do

It is one thing having rights. How can I use them?

Firstly check your facts. You must have a reasonable belief in what you claim, and you must make any claim in good faith. We advise UNISON members to talk through your concerns with your steward or branch secretary in the first instance. Check carefully what hard evidence you have to support any claim. Frivolous claims do not give you legal protection.

Secondly, consider whether these concerns can be raised informally or through the normal grievance procedure. Wherever possible, it is essential that you do that. There is no point complaining local management failed to act on your concerns if you didn't draw them to their attention. The only exceptions will be where your complaint is actually about what your management did or didn't do.

Thirdly, take advice on using the Trust whistleblowing procedure. If there isn't one, alert your branch secretary. In any case, you would be well advised to take advice from your UNISON regional officer at this stage. If you do use the Trust Freedom of Speech procedure, and you are raising relevant issues in good faith, then you are entitled to trade union representation, to be heard quickly, and to protection against any victimisation by your local management.

Finally, if none of this works within a reasonable time limit, you may have to consider raising the issues more publicly. It is essential you take advice from a UNISON regional officer before doing so.

None of the above, of course, prevents local UNISON members from raising issues publicly where they are part of a campaign seeking public support eg cuts in services. But beware using the whistleblowing procedure as part or that campaign unless really justified.

Health Care

Whistleblowing - FAQs

Whistleblowing - rights of NHS staff

Whistleblowing - what to do