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Raising Concerns about the Service & Whistle Blowing  Picture1

You have a responsibility to report things that you feel are not right, are illegal or if anyone at work is neglecting their duties . Active want to know about any concerns no matter how small.

How and When to Escalate any Concerns that you might have (Whistleblowing)

 

whistleblowing is when a worker reports suspected wrong doing at work. Officially this is called ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’ and may sometimes be referred to as escalating concerns. You must report things that you feel are not right, are illegal or if anyone at work is neglecting their duties”.

Whistleblowing is …..“the act of reporting concerns about malpractice, wrongdoing or fraud. The concern must be a genuine concern about a crime, criminal offence, miscarriage of justice, dangers to health and safety and of the environment – And the cover up of any of these.”

A whistle-blower is ….. “a person who raises a concern about a wrongdoing in their workplace (e.g. within the NHS or social care setting. If a person wishes to raise their concerns they should obtain a copy of the organisations whistleblowing policy and see advice.”

Whistleblowing is not….. “the same as a complaint. Complaints from service users, relatives or representatives would not be classed as whistleblowing. These would need to be raised using the service’s complaints procedure. NHS and Social Care employees that have complaints regarding pay, hours, bullying (unless as a direct result of whistleblowing) and general grievances would need to raise their complaints using their organisations grievance procedure. Whistleblowing can only refer to situations that have arisen within a current or ex-workplace.

Use to answer question 1.2e of the Care Certificate

How to Raise Concerns within Active:

 

  1. Discuss matter with your line manager
  2. Contact the HR Coordinator who will record your concern and discuss it with the Registered Manager. Dependent on the nature of the issue the HR Coordinator can do this without disclosing your identity if this is what you prefer. You will receive feedback on action undertaken.
  3. If you are not satisfied with the action taken, or you feel unable to report the matter through either of the above routes, then you should contact Karen Pogson, Active’s Designated Internal Whistleblowing Person by phone, email or letter – marked private and confidential.

If you feel you are unable to contact any of the above, then you should contact one of the following organisations detailed below

CQC     for personal care services to adults in their own homes and community   03000 616161

Ofsted for children’s clubs at Newsome or Ovenden   0300 123 1231

Kirklees Gateway to Care    01484 223000

Bradford Adult Services Access Point    01274 435400

Calderdale Gateway to Care    01422 393000

Types of Concerns that Must be Reported

 

The Public Disclosure Act 1998 protects whistle blowers and ensures they cannot be victimised by an employer for reporting :

  • Abuse or any other illegal acts
  • Making disclosures about a criminal offence
  • The breach of a legal obligation
  • A miscarriage of justice
  • A danger to the health or safety of any individual caused by work activity
  • Damage to the environment by work activity
  • Deliberate covering up of information in relation to any of the above matters.

To be protected by the Act, the worker giving the information has to be able to show that they reasonably believe that one or more of the above matters is happening now, took place in the past, or is likely to happen in the future. It doesn’t matter if the worker proves to be wrong, as long as they can show they had reason to believe it to be so.

Finally, please be assured that Active do appreciate staff coming forward and raising concerns internally, we value this as a way of improving the quality and safety of service delivered to our clients

Use to answer question 1.2e, 5.4a and 7.4d of the Care Certificate

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