A legal and regulatory specialist in health and social care has warned that with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reporting a marked rise in whistleblowers, care providers need to be well-prepared.
Speaking on the topic during a recent Access All Areas webinar, Neil Grant (pictured), partner at Gordons Partnership LLP, pointed to CQC data highlighting that whistleblowing had increased by more than 50 per cent to 6,972 in the year up to September 2020.
During the pandemic, the CQC has changed the way it operates with routine inspections stopped and the focus shifting to supportive conversations with care providers and managers.
Grant said this inspection vacuum has led to more people coming forward with their concerns.
“With CQC site visits reserved for services which are considered to present a significant risk to service users - more risk based inspections are being triggered as a result of information of concern. Of the 888 inspections up to September, 53 per cent were triggered by whistleblowers,” he added.
“Providers should be approaching whistleblowing incidents as they would complaints or accidents and have set processes in place to ensure safety and openness in leadership and management.”
Grant continued: “Having the right culture in the business is essential and with more whistleblowers coming forward, the way providers are managing such instances is becoming even more critical to providing excellent care and gaining excellent ratings by CQC inspectors.”
The lawyer noted the CQC is consulting on a new five-year strategy, which is informed by how it has adapted its regulatory model during the pandemic.
“Notably, there is an increased emphasis on the importance of listening to service users, their families, current members of staff and former members of staff. Providers should be aware of how this might impact them.”
