Better protection for nursing: reporting poor practice.

The government has responded to criticism about a legal loophole in the protection of those who report poor practice in the interest of the public. The gap in protection, which limited any liability for the detrimental treatment of whistleblowers to their employers and excluded detriment caused by co-workers, threatened to derail plans for the introduction of a duty of candour on healthcare providers as recommended by the Francis Report. In this article, the author describes how changes to the law set out in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 will improve protection for nurses who report poor practice and explains the role of Public Concern at Work in providing advice and support to nurses who wish to report poor practice.