The NOPD is the principle point of contact between the HSE and the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner (OPDC).
The role of the office is to:
- Centrally manage the official receipt and initial assessment of protected disclosures received within the HSE.
- Provide guidance and training on protected disclosures to “workers” under the Act.
- Ensure all protected disclosures referred for examination under the Act are appropriately examined/investigated and that feedback is provided to the reporting person as requested.
- Promote an open culture whereby staff are encouraged to speak up about concerns and be listened to.
- Provide statutory reporting to the HSE Senior Leadership Team, the HSE Audit & Risk Committee and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
Process for managing a protected disclosure
The process followed on receipt of a Report which is assessed for follow-up as a protected disclosure is shown below.
- Acknowledge - All disclosures of information received by the NOPD are acknowledged within 7 calendar days of receipt.
- Initial Assessment - The initial assessment (also known as screening) is performed by the NOPD.
- Referral - If the NOPD assess the disclosure to be a protected disclosure for follow-up under the Act, the NOPD refers the protected disclosure to the Senior Accountable Officer (SAO) for examination/investigation. Note: If the NOPD’s assessment determines that the disclosure is not a protected disclosure, the information may be referred to the SAO outside of the protected disclosures framework if deemed appropriate.
- Statutory Feedback - Statutory feedback by the NOPD will be provided to the reporting person no later than 3 months after initial acknowledgement of the report and every 3 months thereafter following referral for further examination/investigation (where the reporting person is not anonymous and has requested feedback).
- Outcome and Final Feedback - The outcome of the examination/investigation is provided by the SAO to the NOPD and the final feedback, as appropriate, is provided to the reporting person by the NOPD.
Please see Section 3 of the HSE Procedures for the Handling of Protected Disclosures for further detail on each step of the process.
