TEN concerns were raised by staff to NHS Shetland’s whistleblowing inbox during the last financial year – a “material increase” compared to before. Health officials believe this is because of increased awareness in whistleblowing. There have also been “considerable delays” in the time it has taken NHS Shetland to fully respond to “stage two” concerns – ones where a full investigation is required.
There is a 20 day target for dealing with stage two concerns but only one out of three investigated at this level to date has been closed within this timescale. A report to an NHS Shetland board meeting last week appears to show that one stage two case took 245 days to deal with. A spokesperson for NHS Shetland said after the meeting that the stage two concerns “have been very complex, and therefore we have needed longer than 20 days”.
“Similar to complaints handling, we also have a small number of staff with the skills and capacity to undertake the reviews,” they added. One of the stage two investigations required an external investigation to be commissioned. A report which went in front of last week’s board meeting said the “individual has been kept up to date with the progress of the investigation and has received appropriate support from a confidential contact throughout this period”.
NHS Shetland has had whistleblowing standards in place since 2021. Whistleblowing is defined as “when a person who delivers services or used to deliver services on .