The 2024 TUC Congress in Brighton has voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion by HCSA to protect doctors and NHS colleagues who blow the whistle on patient safety.

The motion commits the TUC to campaign for:

1. The establishment of an independent national whistleblowing agency
   
   
2. Victimisation of whistleblowers to be made a criminal offence, so that causing detriment to those who speak up is punishable by law
   
   
3. NHS boards to actively monitor whistleblowing cases and be collectively and individually held responsible when those cases fail.

HCSA General Secretary Dr Paul Donaldson told Congress that HCSA receives many requests for support from hospital doctors who feel compelled to speak up on issues of safety:

“Doctors, along with their colleagues across the NHS, care deeply about their patients and providing the best care possible. In fact, this is what they dedicate their entire working lives to.

“Yet 70 per cent of hospital doctors tell us that raising concerns about patient safety could harm their careers. This is unacceptable. NHS staff walk a tightrope between highlighting concerns and marking themselves as ‘troublemakers’.”

In 2019 Congress supported the creation of an independent whistleblowing agency. This motion urges the government to implement such an agency and builds on that call with additional safeguards.

See the full text of the motion here and watch Dr Paul Donaldson’s speech to Congress below.