There will be more avoidable death until NHS leaders learn to welcome whistleblowers

Editorial: Time and again, warnings are ignored because managers or doctors are worried about the damage to their personal reputation or to that of the trust

In many cases, whistleblowers had to go to journalists in order to get their complaints investigated (Getty)

Most employees of the National Health Service believe their managers would ignore someone expressing concerns about patient safety, according to the latest NHS staff survey. This supports The Independent’s view that the Lucy Letby case was not a one-off: it is merely the most shocking and most recent example of a fundamental problem of the culture of the health service.

As we reported this week, the NHS bosses at the Countess of Chester Hospital who stand accused of failing to act on complaints about Letby were the very same people who were nominated to receive and act on whistleblowers’ concerns. Thus the NHS tries to open itself up to whistleblowing, but succeeds only in putting people in charge of investigating themselves. That might work in a leadership culture that welcomes and rewards self-criticism, but this is, sadly, not the culture in large parts of the NHS.