“The canary in the coal mine: When the voices of safety go quiet” (5 March 2025)

Summary

At a recent Public Policy Projects and Patient Safety Learning event, Maggie Pacheco posed a question to a panel that Patient Safety Learning's Helen Hughes was chairing.

"Drawing on my own experience of raising safety concerns at different stages of my career, often met with dismissive or even hostile behaviour, I dread the day when the voices of safety, the brave individuals who dare to speak out, fall silent."

"We urge them to be courageous, to push back against unsafe practices, yet too often, their reward is not gratitude or action but silence, retaliation, or career-limiting consequences."

"And if, one day, exhausted and demoralised, they stop speaking up, what then becomes of our health system?"

The topic sparked considerable debate in the room. Maggie reflects on it further in her LinkedIn post.