Eileen Chubb (born 1959) is a former care assistant in the UK who became a

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

and then a campaigner. She has shown a particular interest in the

care home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

sector. She has led a campaign for new legislation named Edna's Law to replace the

Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (c.23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that protects whistleblowers from detrimental treatment by their employer. Influenced by various financial scandals and accidents, along with the re ...

(PIDA) to improve legal protection for whistleblowers in the United Kingdom and for an inquiry into historic whistleblowing cases. She and other whistleblowers claim that PIDA has failed. Chubb has frequently stated her opposition to the proposed Office for the Whistleblower which has been recommended by Baroness Kramer and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing.

Career

Chubb left school aged sixteen and worked as a manager at a bakery chain. In her forties, she took a career change to begin working as a carer. In 1999, after working as a care worker for three years in Isard House care home run by

BUPA Bupa , legally British United Provident Association Limited, is an international health insurance and healthcare group with over 38 million customers worldwide. Bupa's origins and global headquarters are in the United Kingdom. Its main countrie ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

, she was one of seven who claimed they were forced to quit after reporting suspected abuse of elderly residents.

Campaigning

Chubb has been critical of the ability of the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

to inspect care homes effectively. As a member of the public, she has visited over 300 care homes in the UK undercover. Chubb has alleged that the CQC disclosed the identity of 47 Whistle-blowers to their employers. She has reported on the CQC practice of allowing homes to re-register under new names after a poor inspection report, with the reports then being archived under the homes' previous names. Chubb claims this misleads the public. In 2003 she founded the registered charity Compassion in Care.

Erin Pizzey Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey (; born 19 February 1939) is an English ex-feminist, Men's rights activist and advocate against domestic violence, and novelist. She is known for having started the first and currently the largest domestic violence s ...

Roger Graef Roger Arthur Graef OBE (18 April 1936 – 2 March 2022) was an American-born British documentary filmmaker and theatre director. Born in New York City, he moved to Britain in 1962, where he began a career producing documentary films investiga ...

and Auriol Waters are patrons of the charity. In 2008 she published the book Beyond the Facade which described her experiences at Isard House and the BUPA Seven legal case. In 2012 she co-founded Whistleblowers UK, also known as WBUK, with

Gavin MacFadyen Gavin Hall MacFadyen (né Galter; January 1, 1940 – October 22, 2016) was an American investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker. He was the director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) at Goldsmiths, University of London; C ...

and Ian Foxley. In 2013 Chubb resigned from Whistleblowers UK, followed by MacFadyen in 2014 and the company was dissolved in 2015. In 2014 Chubb and Gavin MacFadyen co-founded The Whistler, a fellowship alliance between Compassion in Care and the

Centre for Investigative Journalism The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is a British independent charity providing training to journalists, researchers, producers and students in the practice and methodology of investigative journalism. It was incorporated as a Company L ...

(CIJ). In February 2015, she gave an initial response to the

Freedom to Speak Up Review The Freedom to Speak Up Review was a review into whistleblowing in the NHS in England. It was announced on 24 June 2014 and it was chaired by Sir Robert Francis. The review was originally expected to report in November 2014 but took longer because ...

report into NHS whistleblowing, produced by

Sir Robert Francis Sir Robert Anthony Francis, KC (born 4 April 1950) is a British barrister. He specialises in medical law, including medical and mental health treatment and capacity issues, clinical negligence and professional discipline.Denis Campbell The Guar ...

, describing it as "a complete betrayal of whistleblowers”. In 2015 Chubb was a speaker at the Stand Up For Truth tour with

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg (born April 7, 1931) is an American political activist, and former United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the ''Pent ...

Jesselyn Radack Jesselyn Radack (born December 12, 1970) is an American national security and human rights attorney known for her defense of whistleblowers, journalists, and hacktivists. She graduated from Brown University and Yale Law School and began her caree ...

, Thomas A Drake, Norman Solomon,

Coleen Rowley Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is an American former FBI special agent and whistleblower, and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional dist ...

and Justin Schlosberg. In 2017, following MacFadyen's death in 2016, Chubb announced an annual Gavin MacFadyen Award to be awarded to a journalist or publisher who had helped a whistleblower. Only whistleblowers can nominate, and Chubb presented the inaugural award to

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

, hosted by the Frontline Club at Byline Festival. In 2019 Chubb became one of five finalists for the Inspirational Women Award. In 2020 she published the book There Is No ME In Whistle-blower to set out her case for Edna's Law for whistleblower protection and how it would work. In October 2020 Chubb was one of six nominees shortlisted for the GUE/NGL Award for ‘Journalists, Whistleblowers and Defenders of the Right to Information'

Petitioning

In 2004

John Horam John Rhodes Horam, Baron Horam (born 7 March 1939) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is the only MP since the Second World War to have sat in the House of Commons for three different political parties, latterly as the Conser ...

called Chubb and her six co-workers the BUPA Seven when he presented their petition to Parliament for a public inquiry. In 2013

Charlotte Leslie Charlotte Leslie (born 11 August 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician who is the current Director of the Conservative Middle East Council. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bristol North West constituency, losing her se ...

presented a further petition from Chubb to Parliament. Chubb has petitioned for her view of legislation changes, naming these ''Edna's Law'', in honour of a care home resident Edna who died after cruel abuse: * Criminal offence not to act on the genuine concerns of a whistleblower * Deterrent because of strong case law precedents. * Whistleblower would be protected witness. * Compensate for loss of trust and loss of employment. * Criminal offence to harm a genuine whistleblower. * Wrongdoing is public and is acted on. * State would prosecute and uphold the public interest. * Bad companies held to account which results in culture change. * Put victims of silence first and protect protectors.

Whistleblowing reports by Chubb

Chubb has published reports on many aspects of the care industry, on whistleblowing legislation for all sectors and on related topics.
Breaking the Silence - Part One - Evidence from 1500 WhistleblowersBreaking the Silence - Part Two - The Forgotten Victims of PIDAs failuresBreaking the Silence - Part Three - Health Hazards
*https://compassionincare.com/public-interest-enemy-no-1 * https://compassionincare.com/hunt-justice-and-accountability * https://compassionincare.com/should-we-abolish-accountability * https://compassionincare.com/reality-cctv-check-0

References

External links

Compassion in Care website

Eileen Chubb YouTube channel

Eileen Chubb Twitter account
* 26 Feb 2014 RTbr>Chubb founder and Director of Compassion in Care interviewed by RT's Afshin Rattansi
* 11 Feb 201
BBC News 24 interview with Eileen Chubb
* The Times M Bowers and J Sherman 6 Aug 201
The care worker who complained: ‘My life was made a living hell’
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chubb, Eileen British whistleblowers Caregiving English health activists 1959 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people)