Doctors and nurses should be able to speak out about concerns over patient care without risking their careers, an MP has said.
Tony Wright, who helped introduce legislation to protect whistleblowers at work, suggested the Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1998 was failing in its mission.
He spoke after two high-profile NHS cases raised question marks over the ability of staff to blow the whistle on problems.
Margaret Haywood was struck off the nursing register after secretly filming neglected patients in a Brighton hospital, while the Healthcare Commission published a report into "appalling conditions" at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
Mr Wright, Labour MP for Cannock Chase, Staffs, told BBC's Panorama: "The whole point of introducing whistleblower provisions was that someone had got somewhere to go so they could raise these concerns quite properly without threatening their job, without damaging their career and indeed without having to go to the media.
"The Government should revisit the guidance - but we know from Stafford cases and I suspect other cases too - what is said in terms of guidance and what happens on the ground is probably very, very different."
The damning report into Stafford Hospital detailed a catalogue of failings, saying "shocking" standards of care for patients admitted through A&E put many people at risk and led to deaths.
Between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected in a three-year period from 2005 to 2008.
Mr Wright said: "Nurses couldn't have been happy working in that situation - doctors must have been appalled at the fact they could not deliver a proper level of care.
"Why weren't they jumping up and down?"
