High Court reinstates nurse whistleblower

The papers today are reporting the story of the reinstatement of Margaret Haywood, a nurse with over 20 years of experience who was struck off the register for bringing to light cases of unacceptably low standards of care for elderly patients.

Haywood secretly filmed patients at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton to show they were being neglected. Her findings were broadcast on the TV documentary series Panorama .

The cases exposed included a patient who was left to die alone and another who was forced to wait hours before being allowed to go to the toilet.

There was a public outcry when the nurse was struck off in April for breaching confidentiality, however the penalty imposed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was overturned yesterday by the High Court in London.

Not good enough I'm afraid.

Those individuals who have the courage, honesty and bravery to expose genuine cases of neglect and wrongdoings should be rewarded rather than cast off as troublemakers.

Whistleblowers risk being condemned by friends and co-workers and also face disciplinary action and in some extreme cases, dismissal. Dismissal is exactly what happened in the case of Margaret Haywood and while the decision may have been overturned, the accusations by the NMC of what she was doing was wrong still stands.

The fact that the case has been overturned because of public outcry will have little effect on people in the future who are considering exposing unacceptable practices as they could be (understandably) discouraged because of fear for their careers.

I am certainly more inclined to trust a whistleblower who saved suffering and even lives over someone who goes to work every day, saw this happening and does nothing about it.