Civil Servants and Whistle-Blowing: Loyal Neutrality and/or Democratic Ideal?
This chapter, by a political philosopher, opens a preliminary investigation of the indirect and complex relationship between the politicisation of the civil service and the incidence of whistle-blowing civil servants. The principal question is whether politicisation generates stresses on the idea and self-image of a neutral and professional civil servant and whether this may be the cause of the paradoxical stance of affirming the traditional democratic role of the civil service by speaking up, while thereby breaking the role-boundaries of that same tradition. This is a complex and novel idea, and I attempt to lay bare some important aspects of this complexity. My hypothesis, which needs empirical research from social scientists, is that any trend to whistle-blowing civil servants may itself be symptomatic of politicisation.
Human Rights Act.
Two senior RCN advisers have published a guide for nurses on the Human Rights Act which came into force last month.
Community refinement of glaucoma referrals
AbstractAim To describe a Manchester-based glaucoma referral refinement scheme designed to reduce the number of false-positive referrals to the hospital eye service. To report on the first years results of this scheme and its financial costs to the NHS.Methods Patients with suspected glaucoma, instead of being referred to their GP and then on to the hospital eye service, were referred to a group of specially trained community optometrists working to an agreed set of referral criteria. Those patients who did not meet the referral criteria were returned to the referring optometrist, while those who met the referral criteria were referred directly to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. The patient's GP was informed in all cases.Results The number of suspect glaucoma cases referred to the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital was reduced by 40%. This figure is close to the percentage of false-positive referrals measured at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital prior to the onset of this study. The information accompanying referral has been improved and the scheme produces a small financial cost saving to the NHS of approximately £17 per patient.Conclusion Community refinement of suspect glaucoma offers some important benefits over the current referral pathway.