Doctors scared to blow whistle on patient care

Growing numbers of doctors have said they would not blow the whistle about patient safety concerns for fear of retribution, a survey has found.

The British Medical Association (BMA) surveyed doctors in 2018 and again in 2024, with a rising proportion saying they would not feel confident raising concerns about standards of patient care.

The BMA revealed that 26 per cent of 1,578 doctors in 2024 said they would not feel confident acting as a whistleblower, compared with just 10 per cent of around 7,900 doctors surveyed in 2018.

Three in five (61 per cent) of those polled in 2024 said they might not raise concerns because they were “afraid” that they or colleagues could be “unfairly blamed or suffer adverse consequences”.

Meanwhile 45 per cent said they feel that their managers discourage them from raising concerns – up from 20 per cent in 2018.

The BMA said that doctors are now “more frightened than ever” to speak up when they see patient safety issues, or levels of care at risk.

‘Protectionism rather than accountability’

Prof Philip Banfield, chairman of council at the BMA, said the union aims to highlight a culture of “protectionism rather than accountability” within the NHS.

The BMA survey comes after The Telegraph revealed warnings from a group of medics that NHS managers are destroying the careers of whistleblowers who raise concerns about patient safety.

More than 50 doctors and nurses told this newspaper they have been targeted after raising concerns over more than 170 patient deaths and nearly 700 cases of poor care. One consultant described it as “the biggest scandal within our country” and said the true number of avoidable deaths was “astronomical”.

Instead of trying to fix the problems, the whistleblowers claim NHS bosses are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money hiring law firms and private eyes to investigate them instead, leading many medics to quit the profession in despair.

The NHS spent more than £4 million on legal action against a single whistleblower, which included £3.2 million in compensation.

Doctors have also said that NHS managers accused of persecuting whistleblowers and ignoring warnings about patient safety are “protected” within the health service.

‘Bigger than Post Office scandal’

At the BMA’s national annual meeting in Belfast on Monday, Prof Banfield will raise the concerns of whistleblowers, saying: “Pandora’s box of raising concerns is about to be thrown wide open. This is far bigger than the Post Office scandal and the BMA will do all it can to help uncover wrongdoing.”

Prof Banfield will describe a “disgraceful revolving door of ineptitude”, saying that some poorly performing managers have been “conferred a degree of protection” and “shuffled out of prominent roles and into other senior positions”.

“That’s why we’re backing the regulation of non-medical managers. Because as long as this culture of protectionism, rather than accountability, holds sway, doctors will continue to face appalling victimisation,” he will say.

Prof Banfield will also highlight the “misuse” of physician associates (PAs) in the NHS. PAs have been under increased scrutiny following the death of Emily Chesterton in November 2022.

The 30-year-old had been under the impression that she was seeing a GP, but was actually seen twice by a PA who failed to spot that her leg pain and breathlessness was a blood clot, which ultimately travelled to her lungs.

An NHS spokesperson said: “It is completely unacceptable for any member of staff to feel silenced or unable to speak up about issues affecting them or patients – not only should everyone working in the NHS feel they can raise concerns but they must know that they will be acted on and that they will be treated fairly – this is vital for ensuring that the NHS learns from mistakes and provides the best possible care for patients.

“Every NHS trust should be adopting the updated national Freedom to Speak Up policy and NHS England has recently asked all local areas to urgently ensure staff have easy access to information on how they can raise concerns, including through having a dedicated Freedom to Speak Up guardian in place.

“If people feel disadvantaged as a result of speaking up, NHS England has ensured there is additional help available with a national scheme in place so staff can receive additional intensive support in these circumstances.”