Blowing the whistle: Perceptions of surgical staff and medical students in a public South African hospital.

Whistleblowing is defined as raising a concern about wrong doing and has gained prominence in the UK National Health Service (NHS) following the publication of the Francis Report (the report of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry) in 2013. The report revealed that lack of diligence and a reluctance to speak out about poor practice amongst staff had contributed to increased patient morbidity and mortality. In the wake of this report, a new framework was introduced by the NHS to help workers raise concerns regarding other staff and poor working practices in general. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that this new framework has not helped to increase whistleblowing or prevented staff who do raise concerns from being penalised. Furthermore, it has been claimed that such implementations will encourage defensive medicine and reduce the willingness of staff to report concerns, despite the important role of whistleblowing in helping to prevent catastrophic events and improve care. Further research is required to understand why healthcare professionals are reticent regarding whistleblowing. Moreover, while some research in the nursing and allied health community exists, this study is important as it adds to the limited evidence amongst medical students and staff in general.