Speaking up about any concern you have at work is really important. In fact, it’s vital because it will help us to keep improving our services for all patients and the working environment for our staff.
You may feel worried about raising a concern, and we understand this. But please don’t be put off. In accordance with our duty of candour, our senior leaders and entire board are committed to an open and honest culture. We will look into what you say and you will always have access to the support you need.
The Trust is committed to encouraging openness and honesty in the workplace, and creating a supportive culture where members of staff feel able to raise concerns without any fear of repercussions. We have a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and a Whistleblowing Policy (requires intranet to view) to enable everyone to raise concerns safely so that such issues are raised early and in the right way.
We welcome your genuine concerns and are committed to dealing responsibly, openly and professionally with them.
What concerns can I raise?
You can raise a concern about risk, malpractice or wrongdoing you think is harming the service we deliver. Just a few examples of this might include (but are by no means restricted to):
- unsafe patient care
- unsafe working conditions
- inadequate induction or training for staff
- lack of, or poor, response to a reported patient safety incident
- suspicions of fraud (which can also be reported to our local counter-fraud team)
- bullying and harassment
Remember that if you are a healthcare professional you may have a professional duty to report a concern.
If in doubt, please raise it.
How do I raise a concern?
We want to make raising concerns as easy and clear as possible. Before you raise a concern, you may want to get some advice on the matter. This could be from a HR advisor, your union representative, the Trusts Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, or someone else.
The following are ways in which you can raise your concern:
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Bring the matter to the attention of your line manager. If this is not possible, or if you feel your manager doesn’t respond to your concern, then contact the Trust’s Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and Speak Up Advocates (details below).
- You can raise a whistleblowing concern by clicking ‘Yes’ to the raise a whistleblowing concern section in Datix. If this is done, an alert is sent to the Trusts Freedom to Speak up Guardian, who will contact the staff member who wrote the Datix in the first instance.
Contact Ruben, our Freedom to Speak Up Guardian:
Please remember that all help and support is confidential.
Your Speak up Guardian and Speak Up Advocates can be identified by their green badges and lanyards.