Whistleblower's Windmills and Carousels

When I was younger, I played in a number of orchestras. One of of the theme tunes played on Sunday mornings was Windmills of your Mind. I like this interpretation by Alison Moyet. The beauty of playing first clarinet is knowing that your fingers will move without reading the music. It becomes automatic and second nature - you know the next bar, you know the timing of the music and you know whats coming next. Life on the whistleblowing carousel is a bit like that - once you have been through it once, twice, you know the sheet music will be identical. You can play your tune with your eyes closed.

The British Medical Association, the organisation who has failed the MMC doctor, every whistleblower on the planet and the ethnic minority, have announced that the NHS Is Failing Whistleblowers. This is a repetitive sheet music. This news is not new. It comes up every year in some form or another. The BMA is like a Windmill - there is nothing new about it. It just goes round and round the same theme tune.

The BMJ found as follows "Among 118 hospital foundation trusts in England, 43 insist an employee raises their concerns internally before approaching an outside body, 22 warn they could face disciplinary action and 23 do not guarantee to respect the whistleblower's confidentiality, it found"

So? Is this some kind of surprise to the world?

Dr Mark Porter, of the British Medical Association, said some doctors encountered problems when they spoke out, even though the right to expose problems was protected by law.

"We get very concerned about people who fall foul of these whistleblowing policies," said Porter. "People continue to raise problems with us and there are high-profile cases, some of which take place in organisations that have good policies."

Of course, what would happen if the main cause of the problem was the BMA and the BMJ? Now that would be interesting wouldn't it. At no point have the BMA or the BMJ ever mentioned the manner in which the GMC treats whistleblowers who raise concerns. Moreover, it fails to mention the fact that leading research shows that PIDA does not work. The most recent work provides as follows

"The author concludes that PIDA 1998 has not adequately protected whistleblowers and makes 12 recommendations for change. Despite the European Commission’s acknowledgement that whistleblowers can play a part in the fight against corruption, the author notes that common standards for their protection still seem a long way off"

Yet it goes through the same Windmills of its own mind. It goes round in circles getting nowhere.

What is required of course is a Health Select Committee Review on Whistleblowing, an action plan based on consultation with those who know the system. We need to stop going through the same tune over and over again on the BMA spinning wheel. We need to play some percussion, shut down this broken record and start to rewrite the sheet music.

Just a word of warning - anyone who treads the path of whistleblowing needs to think very carefully. I write about the reality of whistleblowing - everyone else writes about the theory of whistleblowing. Theory is completely different from reality. Those who can't do it often end up teaching it - and that is how I view some researchers who comment on whats best for whistleblowers. There is of course the issue of medical mobbing that is missed off by the BMA and every other organisation in the UK. It is a serious unrecognized problem in the UK.

One of the reasons for this blog is to prevent as many whistleblowers from raising concerns. This blog details the whistleblowing carousel of one problem after another. Of course, unlike many other whistleblowers, I mount a robust defence -its second nature to me these days. I expect lies, deceit and corruption and I expect the ripples to go on for years. The music to this piece was written out by North Staffordshire NHS Trust.

I should add that life has been peaceful since medicine ex communicated me. The carousel stopped. It has been pleasant but as everyone can see, the repercussions of the last session on the carousel is ongoing two years later. For me it is just like a repetitive piece of sheet music. I play it and with each crescendo and finale, my cynicism increases. I am many things - but I would rather be 14 playing at the orchestra without the knowledge of the whistleblower carousel. I don't think anyone requires that carousel at anytime in their lives.