Good Governance Handbook - HQIP

Only in more extreme circumstances are wider disclosures permitted. NHS employers
have been instructed to set up “whistleblowing” procedures and ban gagging clauses.
All organisations should have one and staff have a right to ask for it. An employee
who is victimised or discriminated against in any way because they have ‘blown the
whistle’ (known as making a ‘protected disclosure’) can take their employer to an
employment tribunal.
6.11 When Things go wrong: Advice to patients and carers
Any comments, whether positive or negative, can be fed back to the commissioning
organisation or directly at the point of care, either to the clinician providing care or
through the provider’s complaints and redress systems. The NHS has its own defined
complaints procedure which is always the first step for any complaint about the NHS.
If a patient or carer is not satisfied with the way their complaint has been dealt with,
they have the right to take the complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman. 43
The Ombudsman conducts independent investigations into complaints that
government departments, a range of other public bodies in the UK, or the NHS in
England have not acted properly or fairly, or have provided a poor service.
The Ombudsman can look at complaints about the actions of providers of NHS care,
as well as commissioners. The Ombudsman can also look at complaints about the
Department of Health; the National Commissioning Board (NCB) and its regional
outposts; the Care Quality Commission and Monitor.
The Ombudsman is accountable to Parliament and independent of government and
the NHS.
43 www.ombudsman.org.uk
www.good-governance.org.uk 32