Whistleblowers should not be necessary

I WAS amazed to hear on a recent RTÉ1 programme, and in press reports, dealing with inefficiency, unacceptable procedures and malpractices in hospitals, that the use of a whistleblower in the health service was even thought worthy of discussion.

The coined title ‘whistleblower’ seems to have achieved a degree of professional acceptance at the moment, for some unknown reason.

To me, it portrays the image of a dishonourable person such as a ‘grass’ or informer, of the type occasionally surfacing where there is an atmosphere of ongoing and unhampered corruption, fraud and mismanagement.