Mary Mcloughlin

Passionate about family, the NHS, travel, fairness & equality... Dislikes arrogance, loves humility, all views my own👋

[Artur Nadolny @ArturNadol7566]

120 DOCTORS ARE FIGHTING THEIR OWN NHS TRUSTS. NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT IT.

Dr Amit Mukherjee raised patient safety concerns at his NHS Trust. That's not just his right. It's his legal duty. The NHS calls it a duty of candour. Apparently Trusts call it a provocation.

What followed would be funny if it wasn't happening to a real person. The Trust launched a full employment tribunal against him. It hired expensive QCs to cross-examine him. It racked up around £90,000 in legal costs and then threatened to personally recover every penny from him if he lost. From a doctor. Who was trying to protect patients.

He now avoids all interaction with colleagues. He hides. He takes only temporary roles. He is a consultant psychiatrist in one of the most understaffed specialties in the NHS and he is living like a man who accidentally witnessed a mob hit.

And he is not alone. Around 120 clinicians are simultaneously fighting employment tribunals for whistleblowing right now. One hundred and twenty.

The NHS set up Freedom to Speak Up Guardians specifically to protect people like Dr Mukherjee. He says they worked with senior management against him. The system designed to protect him became another instrument of the same pressure. That detail should be in every newspaper in the country. It is not.

Nobody was sacked for retaliating against him. Nobody faced any professional consequences. The Trust just spent public money trying to financially ruin a doctor whose only offence was telling the truth about patient safety.

This is not a broken system. A broken system produces accidents. This is a working system. It works exactly as intended. Speak up and we will make your life so miserable that every other doctor watching will know to stay quiet.

Dr Mukherjee is still fighting. So are the other 119.

If you know someone who works in the NHS, share this. They probably already know a version of this story. They just couldn't say it out loud.

Sources: Counterfire (@counterfireorg), November 4, 2023 | Westminster Confidential (@davidhencke) | Protect (@WhistleUK)

[Workplace Mental Health Resources @Stopworkplacebu]

Replacing employees is easy. Fixing poor leadership, burnout, and broken culture takes actual effort. 💯

Work Unfiltered

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@Medic11358726 @Whistler_News @kimleadbeater @LordCFalconer No difference since the 1990s then 🤷‍♀️

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@hfp91 @emilyltownsend @rogerkline @stugoo17 Agree 100% especially @ UHMBT

[HEALTHFOOTPRINTS @hfp91]

@emilyltownsend @rogerkline #NHS has all the hallmarks of the Post Office Scandal
Maybe it needs an ITV or BBC documentary to expose this shameful scandal ? It is probably worse than #PostOfficeScandal @stugoo17

[WomenWorking.com @Womenworking]

#Tuesday #Tuesdaymotivation #inspiration #inspirationalquotes

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@nataliepage @JUSTICE4WBS Well deserved 👏🏻👏🏻

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@ExplosiveEnema2 @hassin_joan @drcmday @wesstreeting Empty rhetoric from Downing Street, NHS managers will continue to destroy whistleblowers who raise their head above the parapet in relation to patient safety as it highlights their poor management decisions.

[Ria Kubaisi @RKanaesthetics]

2/5 Those who blow the whistle on wrongdoing must be protected and listened to. Managers who silence and cover up whistleblowing will be sacked and never allowed to work in the NHS again.

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@WB_UK Why have you only one newsletter from 2023? what has been done since then?

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@fbiwhistlestop Especially in the NHS.

[Mary Mcloughlin @Mardoh19]

@seanpepper66 Agree with this 💯 %

[Patient Safety Learning @ptsafetylearn]

Speaking up for patient safety: Martyn Pitman in conversation with Peter Duffy and Helen Hughes - a new interview on the hub this week https://t.co/hDdIwLoW33 #patientsafety #whistleblowing

[Workplace Mental Health Resources @Stopworkplacebu]

Learn more:
https://t.co/75P5f011rg

[PostGrad Modern Slavery @PostgradSlave]

"In the long run, whistleblower gaslighting needs to be recognized as an aggravating factor in whistleblower reprisals and reflected in legislation and penalties."👩‍🎓🔗👨‍🎓🔗

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

Many Foundation Trusts have grown a cover up culture. I’ve seen it close up. They’re run like independent branded businesses; personal & organisational reputation is paramount & the truth an irritation. The marketised “provider” model should go like CCGs. https://t.co/MtVEgBgf3t

[Dr Naomi Murphy @NMPsychologist]

What’s wrong with the term “whistleblower”? I personally don’t like it as it implies “truculent troublemaker snitching to the press”.

Most of the people, I’ve supported have suffered recrimination after raising safety concerns in-house. When they’ve been ignored, they may have gone to industry regulators. They’ve followed all the routes established by their industry but still been bullied, suspended and sacked. Despite exemplary careers, they’ve often been accused of misdemeanours during this process. They’ve faced the wrath of their employer for daring to speak the unspeakable and sometimes they’ve used the tribunal system to fight back.

But occasionally, the concerns they are raising are so serious that they do raise them externally – because they have no other means of having their voice heard. And because there are severe risks associated with their silence.

We’ve seen during recent events eg #infectedbloodscandal #postofficescandal how important good journalism is when employees and patients are struggling to be heard.

I was delighted to be invited by journalist @BreesAnna to have a conversation about how it can be possible to share your story about wrongdoing at work without harming yourself further. She’s full of good advice.

[Janet Eastham @JanetEastham]

👀 Quite a definitive response to our @Telegraph NHS Whistleblowers investigation from @wesstreeting: “Senior leaders who silence whistleblowers will be sacked – and they will not work in the NHS again. I can’t emphasise this strongly enough.”