Gossip girls (and boys)

Gossip can keep healthcare organisations healthy as it can serve as an ‘early warning sign’ of possible organisational failings, according to a paper from the University of Westminster. Listening to and analysing gossip can predict and prevent failings within healthcare organisations, keeping patients safe and providing powerful information and knowledge for leaders in the healthcare sector, the paper argues. The paper acknowledges that there is such thing as ‘toxic gossip’, which is negative, malicious and harmful, but challenges the view that gossip is always negative and has to be silenced or ignored. Published in the Journal of Health Organization and Management, the paper looks at gossip in the context of British healthcare organisations, where the role of gossip attracted attention in the wake of inquiries into hospital failings and abuses of the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients. The paper is based upon research findings published in the book, Gossip and Organizations.