Case: 202310675
NHS organisation: Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board - Acute Services Division
Subject: Patient safety
Outcome: Some upheld
Date: June 2025
Summary
C raised concerns with the Board about the training and supervision provided to trainee Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) within the Flow Navigation Centre (FNC) and a number of processes within the Service that C considered to be a risk to patient safety. C also raised concerns about what they described as toxic leadership and an unwillingness to take on board feedback from staff.
The Board investigated C’s concerns under the National Whistleblowing Standards (the Standards) and partially upheld C’s concerns about training and supervision and upheld C’s concern about toxic leadership. However, the Board did not uphold C’s concerns about patient safety or that there was an unwillingness to take on board feedback and that staff felt unable to raise concerns. C was not satisfied with the response from the Board and complained to INWO, stating the investigation had not been impartial or thorough.
We considered the evidence provided by C and the Board, carried out a number of interviews with former and current staff and sought independent professional advice from two advisers (Adviser). We found the Board’s investigation into concerns about protected study time for trainee ANPs and concerns about whether staff were able to raise concerns to be insufficient. We found that the training and supervision of trainee ANPs was reasonable and that the processes in place within the FNC were not a risk to patient safety.
Our decision in this case was to uphold C’s concerns about protected study time for trainee ANPs and that staff did not feel able to raise concerns within the FNC. We did not uphold C‘s concerns about training, supervision and patient safety.
Recommendations
What we said should change to put things right in future:
- Trainee ANP’s are consulted with regarding their experience of protected study time within the FNC. Study days, university-based classroom teaching, online distance learning, teaching time in clinical areas and self-directed study should all be recorded by the FNC. Alternative solutions to increasing study time within the FNC have been considered by the Board.
- Staff should be confident to speak up in a culture of trust, where they are able to raise concerns, expect the Board to take these concerns seriously and feel confident that action will be taken as a result to address the concerns. The Board should work towards promoting a culture of trust, which values concern raising as a route to learning and improvement. Staff should be aware of the Board’s whistleblowing policy and the support available to them when raising concerns.