These Standards are designed to work with, not repeat or replicate, NHS processes and procedures that staff use every day to report what is happening in local areas. These processes and procedures are called ‘business as usual’ in the Standards.
People may report or mention issues through business as usual processes which could meet the whistleblowing definition. To avoid duplication and confusion, the procedure set out in these Standards should normally only be used if:
- no other procedure or processes are being used
- an existing procedure or process has been used but has not resulted in the outcome the person raising the concern expected, or
- the person asks for the whistleblowing procedure to be used.
Read more about moving from business as usual to this procedure for raising concerns under Initial actions.
People should raise concerns within six months of first becoming aware of the issue the concern relates to.
For more information on this, see the information about the two-stage procedure.
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