Treatment of NHS whistleblowers 'puts patient safety at risk'

Patient safety is at risk without better protection for NHS whistleblowers, according to a former health service chair who says he was forced to resign after raising concerns about reviews into preventable baby deaths.

- Jessica Murray

Maxwell McLean, the former chair of the Bradford teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, said his treatment made "an absolute mockery of the freedom to speak up" in the NHS.

"This isn't just about me. This kind of failure to be held to account is a danger to our community," he said.

"It is genuinely in the public interest that a chair is supported when they try to hold a trust's CEO to account. Because the consequence if they don't is a danger to patient safety."

McLean said he raised "alarming" issues at the trust, including significant delays investigating neonatal deaths and the neglect of a staff member who was formally reported to be at risk of suicide.

This led to an independent investigation that corroborated his concerns.

McLean claimed that shortly after this review he was forced to resign by the trust's board. He is pursuing a whistleblowing claim at an employment tribunal in Leeds this month.