Who can help if you're not sure what to do?

If you’re concerned about the safety of patients but aren’t sure what to do, there are people and organisations who can give you advice and support.

• Your employer: for example a senior member of staff, your organisation’s management team or other impartial colleague.
• One of the GMC’s employer liaison advisers: our advisers are specially trained to give advice on difficult workplace issues, including poorly performing doctors and fitness to practise issues. You can find out who your local employer liaison adviser is by calling our contact centre on 0161 923 6602.  
• The GMC: if your concern is about a doctor, you can call us for advice on 0161 923 6402 or email practise@gmc-uk.org. You don’t at this point have to give us the name of the person you’re calling about, or your own name.  
• Other professional and health system regulators: each health profession is regulated in the same way that doctors are, and those regulators protect patients by acting on concerns about their members’ fitness to practise. System regulators also respond to concerns about patient safety. We’ve included a full list of these regulators in the guidance.  
• Your medical defence body, royal college or a professional organisation such as the British Medical Association  
• Public Concern at Work: this charity provides free, confidential legal advice to people who are concerned about wrongdoing at work and aren’t sure whether, or how, to raise concerns (www.pcaw.co.uk, 020 7404 6609).  
• NHS Whistleblowing helpline: the Department of Health has set up a new helpline for people to raise concerns about the NHS. You can call the helpline on 08000 724 725.  

A more extensive list, including contact details, is included in the guidance.