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When Ishbel Straker decided to do what she believed was whistleblow on a healthcare provider, she thought she’d be thanked and protected. Instead, she says her career and reputation have been destroyed.<\/p>\n
The mental health nurse from Southport<\/a>, who runs her own consultancy business, had been brought in to support staff at an NHS Trust following a string of suicides. <\/p>\n But she says she was so alarmed about how staff were being safeguarded and the practices of that healthcare provider that she raised the alarm.<\/p>\n “I didn’t realise how hard that was going to be because whistleblowing as an external provider into an organisation is not something that people generally do, and the structures aren’t set up for that. <\/p>\n “They’re set up for that internal whistleblowing, as are the protections for that. But I naively thought justice is going to prevail. I’ve got everything documented.”<\/p>\n The mental health nurse from Liverpool runs her own consultancy business. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n Within a month, that healthcare provider had issued its own complaint against Ishbel to the nursing regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). They insist that was not in retaliation. <\/p>\n Ishbel was then the subject of two further unrelated complaints from a disgruntled patient and an ex-employee, which resulted in her being suspended. <\/p>\n Almost six years on from that first complaint, Ishbel is still waiting for the NMC to hear her cases. The target is supposed to be 15 months. <\/p>\n Ishbel said it is like living in limbo.<\/p>\n “It’s horrendous, absolutely horrendous, because there feels like there’s no end. That’s the problem. And it feels like it’s completely hopeless.”<\/p>\n These delays to fitness to Practice hearings aren’t unusual. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n These delays to fitness to Practice hearings aren’t unusual. Figures from the NMC themselves show more than a quarter of people facing a fitness to practice hearing are waiting longer than the recommended 15 months. <\/p>\n Since 2018, it’s thought at least 18 healthcare workers have taken their own lives whilst waiting for their cases to be heard. <\/p>\n None of those deaths has been officially linked to the NMC processes, but one support group said these delays are causing unnecessary harm.<\/p>\n Cathryn Watters from NMC Watch says the Fitness to Practice processes are causing unnecessary harm. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n Cathryn Watters from NMC Watch said “It’s horrendous. One death is just absolutely tragic. But it’s about trying to understand why that has happened, and yes, there may well be pre-existing issues going on, but for everybody in that process to recognise: what could we have done better to try and reduce this risk as much as possible? <\/p>\n “That’s what I feel is really lacking.”<\/p>\n Ishbel says the reputational damage, financial burden, and emotional toll of these time delays is huge for those involved. She has warned it is only a matter of time before another life is lost.<\/p>\n “I see on a daily basis people talking about the fact that they want to end their lives because of these processes. That is the absolute reality.<\/p>\n “It’s humiliating and you’re exposing yourself. <\/p>\n “It’s so humiliating that nurses don’t tell their partners. But you’re also constantly told and gaslit that it’s you, you’re the problem.”<\/p>\n An independent review of the NMC in 2024 identified a dangerously toxic culture. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n