Delia (not her real name) worked as a nurse at a care home.
Delia witnessed numerous incidents regarding the maladministration of medicine. This included overstocking out of date medication and the administration of overdue and incorrect medication.
She raised her concerns with her manager in the first instance, and escalated this to the care home manager but did not adequately feel the concerns were addressed or investigated. Shortly after, Delia was falsely accused of a medication error by her colleagues which she felt was direct retaliation for reporting her concerns.
It was at this point that Delia decided to contact Protect for advice. We reassured her she was right in raising serious health and safety concerns and that she can escalate her concerns through the internal whistleblowing policy. In doing so, we advised that she highlight the safety risks to service users as well as the reputational risks involved for the organisation in not dealing with these concerns. Failing this approach, we advised Delia that she could escalate her concerns confidentially to the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Regarding her personal situation, we also advised Delia on her legal rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act and advised enforcing her rights through a formal grievance procedure regarding the negative treatment she is facing from colleagues with support from her trade union.
Delia has since reported her concerns to the CQC and resigned. She is currently in the process of bringing an automatic constructive dismissal case against her employer with the support of her Trade Union.