We recently supported the launch of the new Private Eye sponsored website www.medicalharm.org
The website features many accounts of those who have tried to raise concerns about standards of care and patient safety but have struggled to be heard.
PATIENTSTORIES contributed a written account of Beth’s Story which illustrates the role that assertive patients and families can play as “whistleblowers” too.
This is clearly a controversial subject and the new website takes a very robust approach to the issues they feel are significant. Organisational denial, professional arrogance and managerial defensiveness all feature but what is perhaps most striking are the systemic and cultural dimensions of the stories that seem to suggest that the conditions necessary for “speaking up and speaking out” are often sadly absent.
Over the coming months we will be talking to more patients, families and professionals to explore what the various perspectives and importantly to consider what impact a more assertive combined voice might sound like.
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