Whistleblowing and ethics in health and social care : speaking out

Those who speak up about poor, corrupt or unethical practice often do so at a great personal cost. This timely book explores our understanding of the ethics of whistleblowing and shows how managers and organisations can support individuals speaking out. While some professional guidelines formalize duties to speak out where there are concerns about poor or harmful practice, workplace cultures often do not encourage or support this, and individuals frequently find themselves victims of a backlash. This book looks at the social, cultural and systemic reasons that make speaking out about poor care so risky. The book looks at the ethics of whistleblowing, and why some people speak out about corrupt or harmful practice, but many do not. It offers a practical framework for creating ethically driven health and social care organizations that support and protect individuals speaking out. Whistleblowing and Ethics in Health and Social Care is essential reading for students, professionals and decision makers across health, social care and criminal justice. Whistleblowing and Ethics in Health and Social Care by Angie Ash 5 Acknowledgements 8 Abbreviations 12 Chapter 1 - The Paradox of Whistleblowing 13 Patterns of paradox 14 Living with paradox 16 What this book is about 19 Terms used 26 Chapter 2 - Whistleblowing 27 Good, Bad and Ugly 27 Fables, fantasies and facts 28 What whistleblowing is 29 Who is likely to whistleblow and about what? 32 Weighing up the pros and cons of whistleblowing 36 Codes and woes 37 UK whistleblowing in law 40 Paradoxes in whistleblowing policy and procedures 42 What happens when people whistleblow? 44 Retaliation and retribution 47 Facing into fear 50 The smell of Salem 51 Ostracism and outcasts 53 Chapter 3 - Organizational Culture and the Whistleblower 55 Organizational climate and culture 56 Layers of culture 57 Undiscussables of organizational life 58 Fragmented cultures 61 Socialization, rationalization, normalization 63 Ethics and human agency 67 People are social animals 69 Groups: Not always your friend 71 Minority influence can make a difference 74 Bad apples, bad barrels 75 Cultures are critical 76 Chapter 4 - Silence and Devices of Denial 78 Keeping quiet 79 The sound of silence 81 Spiral of silence 83 Black sheep and walls of silence 83 Obedience to authority 84 Denial 87 Strategies of denial 88 Doublespeak and denial: Rotherham, England 90 Chapter 5 - Bystanders, Bleach and Blind Spots 95 Bystanders and the aversion of the gaze 96 Self-deception, the slippery slope and ethical degradation 98 Exercising the moral muscle 100 We think we’re more moral than we mostly are 101 The evil that is done 104 Organizational blind spots 108 Health and social care disasters 109 Systematic attention deficit disorder 112 Chapter 6 - How Not to Encourage Whistleblowing 115 Cash for whistleblowing 116 A duty to report 118 Individual autonomy, individual liability 119 Problems of a ‘duty to whistleblow’ 120 Compliance, confidence and codes 122 Trusting the confidence apparatus 122 Prevention is better than cure 125 Chapter 7 - Whistleblowing in Ethical Health and Social Care Systems 128 Defining ethics and morality 129 The whistleblower as ethical canary 130 Integrity and the codes 131 Whistleblowing as ethical right action 134 An ethic of care 136 Whistleblowing and the emperor’s clothes 139 The whistleblower and an ethic of care 140 Embedding an ethic of care into health and social care practice and systems 141 Ethics and care throughout health and social care systems 142 Attentiveness 144 Responsibility 145 Competence 146 Responsiveness 147 Chapter 8 - Ethical Leadership and Whistleblowing 148 The art of leadership 149 Romancing the leader 149 Ethical leaders 151 Ethical leadership and an ethical organizational culture 154 Designing ethical leaders 155 Emotional intelligence and the ethical leader 156 Emotional intelligence in the workplace 157 Chapter 9 - The Ethical Point of Whistleblowing 160 Leadership, Anti-Bathsheba style 161 The virtue of whistleblowing 165 Postscript for the Whistleblower 167 References 170 Subject Index 181 Author Index 184 morality;,conduct;,corruption;,abuse;,neglect;,poor,practice;,risk;,management;,policy morality,conduct,corruption,abuse,neglect,poor practice,risk,management,policy Exploring the moral impetus for people to speak out and the fear that stops them from doing so, this book looks at the ethics of whistleblowing and shows how we can go about creating a supportive workplace culture for those raising concerns about unethical practice in health and social care.