Blowing whistles

This week’s audio is skilfully curated for you to look at the issue of bullying and professionalism in the NHS.  Its quite possible that you have decided to bury your head in some psychic marshmallow to drown the noise of primal screaming that echoed through the NHS this month. The Francis Report investigating why 1200 people died in the care of Mid Staffs hospital is a tearful read, as is the story of the senior managers and clinicians who tried to raise concerns. We had the case of Gary Walker an X Chief Executive of an NHS trust bullied into resigning because he wouldn’t prioritise targets over emergency care. Gary went on Radio 4 and runs the risk of legal action and returning half a million quid simply because he talked about what happened to him.The report  led to some health enthusiasts skipping along to Downing Street to ask for David Nicholson’s resignation earlier in the month. Dave is the Chief Executive of the English National Health Service – nothing personal but someone has to take responsibility and since he really is the gaffer we thought it should be him.Here is an interview with Elsie, a midwife who was invited in to No10. She tells us about how she lost her job for whistleblowing, how she met David Nicholson, and what she learned along her extraordinary journey out of the seventh circle of hell.