Case ref: 202300519
NHS organisation: Forth Valley NHS Board
Subject: Hospitals/ Complaints Handling
Date: March 2024
Summary
The complainant (C) raised concerns with the board about the application of HR policy and the potential safeguarding impacts of the approach taken during an early resolution process. C was unhappy about the board's decision and the board's handling of their whistleblowing concerns and complained to the INWO. We reviewed the main issues of concern originally raised by C and found that, as they related to personnel matters, the concerns were not within the jurisdiction of the INWO. We agreed that the INWO investigation would focus instead on C's complaint about the handling of the whistleblowing concerns. We considered the information provided by C and the board and found that there were failings in the board's handling of the concern. This included a failure to provide regular updates to C during the investigation and shortcomings in the quality of the stage 2 response letter. Our decision in this case was to uphold C's complaint and as a result of our findings, the board have been asked to apologise to C and to consider and reflect on our feedback in relation to compliance with the National Whistleblowing Standards