Dear All Many thanks for all the emails and kind words. I will clarify one issue for everyone given the questions, this petition has never been associated with Patients First [http://www.patientsfirst.org.uk/] or its supporters. I do not support Patients First or Cure the NHS. For avoidance of doubt, I will never support either organisation. My reasons are because I believe in the public interest, the truth and patients safety. Those in the know will understand that I have fought for what is right since 1998. I have never joined hands with AVMA or any other organisation with vested interests. Many may be interested in this ------------------------------------------------- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609467/ Extract from the above paper. b. ‘I contacted ‘Public Concern at Work’ and ‘Patient First’: both organisations gave advice and offered sympathy but gave me no practical support’ Recent changes to the NHS Constitution contain an expectation that NHS staff will raise concerns about safety, malpractice or wrong doing at work that may affect patients, the public, other staff, or the organisation itself as early as possible and will be supported in doing so.10 The Care Quality Commission (CQC) classifies GPs as ‘other workers who provide services to the registered provider’ as they are not directly employed by the NHS11 and their website guidance for providers does give a full explanation of the policies, the law, and expectations on how to raise a concern. Public Concern at Work (PCAW) is the whistleblowing charity established in 1993 which provides free confidential advice to people who are concerned about crime, danger, or wrongdoing at work.12 However, although a number of such resources are available to GP whistleblowers (such as Whistleblowing Helpline [http://wbhelpline.org.uk/] and Patients First [http://www.patientsfirst.org.uk/]), many of them are not ‘fit for purpose’, since they do not offer a great deal in the way of practical support through the specific complexities faced by GP whistleblowers. Such practical support must be the role of the professional organisations. -------------------------------------------------------- The last point here is that both co-authors on Whistleblowing and Patients Safety have sponsored/associated with Patient First. These are Peter Wilmshurst and Steve Bolsin http://jrs.sagepub.com/content/104/7/278.full . The others have remained independent without the need for crutches. I guess some like to be famous and the rest of us like to pay attention to detail. Many thanks Dr Rita Pal