Continued Petitions

We move on to petition PE1605, on whistleblowing in the national health service—a safer way to report mismanagement and bullying. This petition is one of three on our agenda by Peter Gregson on behalf of Kids not Suits.

The petition calls for a whistleblowing hotline to be established to replace the existing helpline service. At our previous consideration of the petition, following evidence from the petitioner, the committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government, NHS boards, the City of Edinburgh Council, unions, the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, which operates a hotline facility, and Public Concern at Work, the provider of the current national confidential alert line.

We have received a number of responses, including from 10 health boards, the Scottish Government and Public Concern at Work. We also have a submission from the City of Edinburgh Council, which provides an explanation of how its hotline facility operates. The petitioner has provided a response to those submissions in which he suggests that there is an element of confusion in distinguishing between a helpline and a hotline.

There has been quite extensive coverage of the issue since we first considered the petition, including an article by the chief executive of NHS Scotland, which subsequently was covered in topical questions at the end of September.

Do members have any views on actions to be taken on the petition?

The unions are often a safe place for people to go to make complaints, as they will not wish to make them public themselves. Perhaps they will have views on it. By definition, a whistleblower is perhaps not the person who wants to come before a committee, although some people have waived their anonymity to talk about the problems that they have had in the past.

We are also wrestling with the question of helplines and hotlines. There is quite a lot on that. It looks as if the advice that people are getting is to go back to where they have already been, without really getting the matter resolved.

Taking on board Angus MacDonald’s suggestion, I think it would be useful to invite the chief executive of NHS Scotland and other relevant stakeholders. I also note Brian Whittle’s point about people at the coalface. A number of organisations, including Public Concern at Work and the City of Edinburgh Council, were identified in the petition.

We do not particularly want a re-run of past difficulties with whistleblowing that the petitioner himself highlighted—that would not be the purpose. The purpose would be to establish processes and systems that do what they are intended to do, as opposed to a process that people do not find particularly useful or helpful.

Are there any other suggestions?

Is that agreed?

Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.