Minister Harney says enactment of new measures in Health Act will legally protect "whistleblowers" in the health services and improve patient safety
1 March 2009
The Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, TD has welcomed the commencement from today (Sunday, March 1st 2009) of a key measure of the Health Act 2007 which provides statutory protection against penalisation and civil liability for health service employees who disclose matters of concern to them to an authorised person.
The new legal protection for "whistleblowers" is provided under Protective Disclosures provisions of the Health Act 2007 which comes into effect from today.
The Minister said ;"I want to actively encourage healthcare employees to disclose matters of concern particularly in the area of patient safety. In the normal course of events, employees should report concerns to their line manager or, if appropriate, to another manager within the workplace."
" Staff who may have wanted to report concerns but were reluctant to do so for fear of retaliation or victimisation will now enjoy legal protection from any form of penalisation when they make their disclosure in accordance with the new provisions in the Act. Concerns can be made to authorised persons or direct to professional regulatory bodies or in certain circumstances to other bodies such as the Health Information and Quality Authority’.
The Minister added: "These new "whistleblower" provisions should encourage a culture of openness and accountability throughout the health services so that employees can report any concerns they may have in relation to their workplace. All of us working in the delivery of healthcare owe it to our patients and to ourselves to do all that we can to minimise errors and maximise the quality of services for patients.
A disclosure made by a health service employee in good faith and on reasonable grounds and in accordance with the provisions of section 103 of the Health Act 2007 is a protected disclosure. Authorised persons have been appointed by health service employers and providers and agreed procedures put in place for reporting such concerns. Public notice of the provisions has been made in the national newspapers.
