Whistleblowing and Ethics in Health and Social Care. Angie Ash

(presumably pro bono) advice to Brooks was a masterclass in dissent management and blowing out the critical voices. In the event, Brooks and her employers marshalled many million pounds’ worth of top-end legal counsel; Brooks was acquitted of five charges of phone-hacking, conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, and to pervert the course of justice, relating to her time as editor of two UK tabloids and as head of the Murdoch-owned company (Davies 2014). People making allegations prior to this case, including many in the public eye, had been subjected to sustained intrusion and vitriol in critical media coverage of their lives, sustained over many years. This is, of course, the type of retaliation that some people raising concerns about the NHS have suffered and where, again, millions of pounds (of public money) have been spent on legal fees to manage dissent, by silencing it (Campbell 2014).

FACING INTO FEAR

      Using fear as a weapon to silence is very effective. In the public inquiry into the failings of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in England, one of the people to speak out at Stafford Hospital was Nurse Donnelly, who was referred to above. Described as ‘a most impressive and courageous witness’ by Robert Francis, the chair of the public inquiry, Nurse Donnelly had at first been reluctant to complain about fabricated patient records, for fear of repercussions (Francis 2013a, p.235). Her fears were well-founded. In her evidence to the inquiry, Nurse Donnelly described being harassed by colleagues, being threatened, and:

      …people were saying, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have done this, you shouldn’t have spoken out.’ And then physical threats were made in terms of people saying that I needed to – again, watch myself while I was walking to my car at the end of a shift. People saying that they know where I live, and basically threats to, sort of, my physical safety were made, to the point where…at the end of a shift…at night I would have to have either my mum or my dad or my husband come and collect me from work because I was too afraid to walk to my car in the dark on my own.

      Nurse Donnelly described how this threatening behaviour continued after she had reported her concerns:

      It was slightly more subversive and I think people were slightly more guarded in how they were doing it. You know, on one particular occasion another staff nurse followed me into the toilet which was also our locker room and locked the door behind her, locking me in, and demanded to know if I had a problem with her and if I was going to say anything about her, and basically threatening me not to do so if I did… So people were still doing things, but not so publicly… They were doing it slightly more discreetly… (Francis 2013a, p.236)

      Nurse Donnelly resigned from her job in Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust some time after she had faced out her fears of retaliation. Staying in or returning to their job is not something that many NHS whistleblowers get to do, whatever their wish. Dr Phil Hammond, an England-based registered medical doctor and journalist, has supported many NHS whistleblowers since 1992. None has returned to their job or previous employment (Hammond 2015). It took Dr Stephen Bolsin, the consultant anaesthetist at the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) who raised concerns about death rates of children undergoing heart surgery, six years to get his concerns heard and to see a drop in mortality rates. Bolsin became the butt of considerable hostility from consultant paediatric surgeons at the BRI; his concerns were ignored until he took these to the media.

THE SMELL OF SALEM

      When retaliation is significant, the whistleblower pays what (Alford 2001, p.10) said were ‘…the terrible costs of going up against the organization, costs most of us are not even aware of because they are not apparent until one crosses an invisible line’. The whistleblower may find themselves subjected to small, individually minor, but collectively destructive acts of victimization in the aftermath of their raising concerns. These can become witch hunts with the smell of Salem about them.

      The US Government Accountability Project (GAP), an American non-profit, non-partisan, public interest law firm that has provided legal representation to many US whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden, commented that, ‘The uglier the tactic, the more effective it is at silencing critics and scaring off anyone else who might challenge abuses of power’ (Devine and Devine 2010, p.7). Pernicious silencing tactics include bringing conflict of interests charges against the whistleblower – for example:

      •alleging the whistleblower was doing the very same act that they are complaining about

      •raiding the whistleblower’s home to seize computers and electronic devices

      •telling the whistleblower they must remain silent

      •attempting prosecution for alleged false statements solely based on hearsay allegation by a mediator sworn to confidentiality

      •unsupported allegations of mental illness, revenge, depression, drug misuse

      •prolonged garden leave

      •blacklisting and whispering campaigns of many years’ duration

      •classifying information years after the fact and then charging the whistleblower post hoc with disclosure of sensitive information

      •the ‘smokescreen syndrome’ (kicking up sand about an unrelated and irrelevant matter to take attention away from the disclosure).