RCN: Nursing staff must feel confident to raise concerns

Published: 23 April 2013

The Royal College of Nursing has expressed concern about the “culture of fear and intimidation” in some workplaces as new survey results reveal around a quarter of nurses (24 per cent) have been discouraged or warned off raising concerns.

More than 8,000 RCN members responded to the survey with almost half (44 per cent) saying that worries about victimisation or reprisals would make them think twice about blowing the whistle.

Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, said: “These responses illustrate that despite the recent attention which has been drawn to the importance of whistleblowing, many nurses are still experiencing a culture of fear and intimidation if they try to speak out. This is putting patient safety at risk.

“One of the key lessons from the Francis report was that frontline staff must feel confident that they can raise concerns about patient safety without fear of reprisals.”

Just under half (45 per cent) of those respondents who had raised concerns said their employer took no action, while about a third (32 per cent) said they didn’t know whether their organisation had a whistleblowing policy.

Of those respondents whose organisation did have a whistleblowing policy, 37 per cent were not aware that there is legal protection for all employees who raise concerns.

“Nursing staff want to provide excellent care, but sometimes the systems they work in do not allow this. Staff know what is safe for their patients and what is not,” Dr Carter said. “However, they cannot raise concerns if they feel unsure about what their employer’s policy is or what the repercussions will be.

“In particular, nurses have told us about occasions when they have been bullied, ostracised or belittled when they have tried to raise concerns on behalf of their patients,” added Dr Carter. “The stakes are simply too high for this to be allowed to continue. Trusts which don’t encourage an open culture from the very top will only continue to make mistakes, sometimes with devastating consequences.”