Whistleblowing in the Care Industry
Posted on 27th February 2023
We're pleased to be featured in Care Home Management Magazine talking about whistleblowing in the care industry.
This area of law is particularly important for the care sector as the nature of the work gives potential for disclosures that could be protected. Most relevant to the care sector, PIDA protects disclosures relating to:
a danger to the health and safety of any individual such as the physical handling or restraining of residents, management of medicines and failures to follow safeguarding procedure.
a breach of a legal obligation such as failures around background checks and professional registration, or breaches of the duty of care.
a criminal offence such as physical handling that amounts to an assault, misuse of medication, or abusing the position of trust for financial or other criminal purposes.
an attempt to cover up such a breach.
In fact, 12% of calls to Protect’s whistleblowing hotline in 2021 came from the care sector, behind only the charity and health sectors . The current workforce shortage could increase the risks. 61% of social carers feel overworked , and staff who are overstretched are prone to mistakes. It also makes safeguarding processes difficult to follow - we recently advised a client who went against policy to respond to a patient emergency alone because nobody else was available to help.
69.8% of whistleblowers in the care sector felt they were punished for speaking up . This suggests a high proportion of employers are leaving themselves open to legal claims of unfair dismissal (if the whistleblower has been dismissed) or constructive dismissal (if the whistleblower has resigned due to being punished).
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