NHSScotland whistleblowing helpline evaluation: 1 February to 31 October 2019

Evaluation by Protect of the NHS Scotland whistleblowing helpline during the period 1 February 2019 to 31 October 2019.

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Job position of the caller

We have provided data on the roles of the callers to the Alert and Advice Line on Whistleblowing matters for both this nine-month reporting period and the previous six-month period. These are as follows: [i]

  1 February 2019 – 31 October 2019 (current reporting period) 1 August 2018 – 31 January 2019
Position Count Percentage Count Percentage
Unskilled 2 8.0% 0 0.0%
Skilled 2 8.0% 2 8.3%
Admin/Clerical 2 8.0% 1 4.2%
Management 1 4.0% 1 4.2%
Unknown 3 12.0% 3 12.5%
Doctor 2 8.0% 3 12.5%
Dentist 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Nurse 7 28.0% 11 45.8%
Pharmacist 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Engineer 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Executive 0 0.0% 1 4.2%
Other 6 24.0% 2 8.3%
Total 25[1] 100.0% 24 100%

Consistent with previous reports, nurses were the largest group to seek advice from the Alert and Advice Line in the reporting period; it should be noted that they are also the largest group of workers in NHS Scotland. The percentages regarding the job position of the caller were consistent with the previous 6-month report regarding the trend of a significant portion of calls coming from doctors, admin/clerical roles, other professional roles and unknown roles.

Please note that we classify positions as unskilled where no formal training or qualifications are required to perform the role. In an NHS context this could include support staff such as cleaners or porters. Skilled positions are those which require some formal training or qualification but which are not covered by one of our other professional categories; this could include tradespeople or drivers.

Contact

Email: John.malone@gov.scot

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