NHS: Whistleblowing

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord rightly expects a fundamental change of culture among NHS bodies, but does he agree that one way in which that could be helped would be if Ministers welcomed criticism from chief executives and leaders of those bodies of unrealistic expectation on the part of Ministers and of there being too few resources? Does he agree that such leaders are stamped on for making their views known, which is simply not conducive to encouraging openness in their own organisations?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

The noble Lord makes a good point. If one looks back at the history of Mid-Staffordshire, one sees clear evidence that the priorities of that organisation were too skewed towards hitting financial targets and meeting other extraneous objectives such as becoming a foundation trust. The message to all NHS organisations should be that patient safety and quality of care come first.