Health & Social Care Staff sharing concerns
Concerns about other service providers
We acknowledge that staff working in the health and social care sector often hear experiences that relate to other providers from people using services and their families. We encourage staff to share concerning experiences with us.
Healthwatch Shropshire welcomes feedback about Health and Social Care services from patients, service users, family, friends and staff.
We ask that staff do not share personal information of the patient or service user unless the person wishes to be contacted about their experience and staff have been given express permission. The experience is recorded anonymously, without any personal details of the person receiving the service or the person reporting the experience. It is collated so that we can identify areas of good experiences and areas where improvements can be made. We can then share this feedback with services providers, regulators, and commissioners.
Concerns about your own organisation
If you have concerns about the care provided by the organisation who employs you the first place to consider raising your concerns should be with your employer.
People who raise concerns about the care provided by their employer are sometimes called ‘whistle-blowers’. In law, whistle-blowers are people who raise their concerns in a certain way and may receive protection in any employment dispute.
All organisations that provide care must have whistle blowing procedures and must make them available to their employees. Follow your employer’s procedures if you have any concerns about care.
Independent Whistle blowing Services
If you do not feel like you can talk to someone in your organisation you may find that your employer also uses a third party organisation, for example Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust uses Safecall, whistleblowing hotline provider.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC)
An alternative course of action could be to contact the CQC if your service is regulated by them. A useful guide to whistle blowing giving helpful advice on speaking out about poor care and what protection you will have from the law is available here: Report a concern if you are a member of staff - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
Service Commissioners
If the care being provided is publicly funded through either the NHS or Local Government an alternative could be to contact the service commissioner. In Shropshire this would be:
- Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin NHS Home - NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (shropshiretelfordandwrekin.nhs.uk)
- Shropshire Council Shropshire Council
Contact Us
If you do not have confidence in your employers whistle blowing policy and procedures you can share your concerns with us and we can feed them back to the employer anonymously to try and improve it for all employees.
If you would like to discuss your situation further please contact us and we will endeavour to signpost you to the best point of contact.
