Further legal protection needed for nurses who report poor practice?

There are persistent calls from Government, health regulators and even the Parliamentary health select committee for health professionals to report poor practice. The Government argues that district nurses who blow the whistle on substandard care will be protected by changes to the NHS Constitution for England. However, a recent decision of the Court of Appeal shows that whistleblowers who are subject to bullying and recriminations from colleagues are not protected by the law and cannot claim compensation. In this article Richard Griffith and Cassam Tengnah review the law protecting whistleblowers, and discusses ways in which district nurses who have concerns can safely report poor practice.