'Fear and intimidation' in NHS

The government will consider proposals which would punish senior NHS managers with criminal sanctions if they ignore concerns raised by whistleblowers

Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter has told Daybreak that the coaltion is looking to introducing a "new culture of openness" in the NHS to prevent poor quality care.

The Royal College of Nursing is calling on the government to extend whistleblowing legislation to student nurses.

The union claims that the current Public Interest Disclosure Act doesn't cover training nurses who raise concerns about patient care.

The government said it would consider the proposal, as it seeks to implement some of the recommendations made in the public inquiry into the poor standards of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Speaking to ITV News, Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing said sometime things will go wrong in the NHS. But it was important to create a culture where it can be put right.

According to the survey by the Royal College of Nursing:

• A third of nurses questioned said they didn't know whether their organisation had a whistle blowing policy
• Of the 64% who had raised concerns, nearly one in ten said they had raised concerns as little as a week ago
• Nearly half of the concerns raised were about staffing levels

• 21% were about patient safety
• 45% of nurses who had raised concerns said their employer took no action

One of the key recommendations made by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry chair, Robert Francis QC, was that concerns and complaints should be able to be raised "freely without fear".

The Royal College of Nursing says a quarter of nurses have been discouraged about blowing the whistle on concerns over patient care, in spite of the Stafford Hospital scandal. A survey found 24% of nurses said they had been warned off raising concerns.

The nursing union says the figures reveal a "culture of fear and intimidation" at work.