"Barbara Hakin has been reported to the GMC for allegedly bringing improper pressure to bear on medical staff during her spell as CEO for East Midlands Strategic Health Authority. Hakin was informed that the pursuit of A&E waiting time targets, despite the trust's full hospitals, was directly endangering patients' safety. David Nicholson was also reported to have been informed. The informant was duly sacked by the trust, allegedly for swearing. A tribunal claim for unfair dismissal was settled for a sum, accompanied by a gagging clause.
The government's attitude to protecting whistleblowers? Hakin was promoted to managing director for commissioning development at the Department of Health. This is the corporate model of healthcare, where business managers run medical care and gagging clauses abound. It is ministers who appear to have been protecting the relentless decimation of the NHS. It's this that needs to change.
Dr Nick Mann
London"
Much more erudition...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/20/remove-the-gag-on-whistleblowers