Freedom to Speak Up Month

Week 3: Freedom to Speak Up Blog - Meet Karan Wheatcroft, FTSU Executive Lead

Our focus on FTSU has never been stronger, and whilst we were commended by the National Guardians Office for being in the top 5 organisations in the country for FTSU we know there is more we need to do to break down the barriers to speaking up.

Having a culture of speaking up is important, and FTSU is just one of the many channels we have for people to speak up. This sits alongside a range of other processes including HALT (where anyone can halt a situation if they have concerns), safety huddle (a daily meeting at which any concerns can be raised and resolution/ action agreed), incident reporting (where incidents are reported to support learning) and local huddles (where teams come together to share issues). We have also built a network of patient safety champions who support patient safety across LHCH.

It often takes courage for someone to speak up, and the first response can be the most important. It can sometimes be easy to listen to respond rather than listen to hear, and this means that we don’t always hear what is being said in a way we can fully understand. This is a difficult skill but a key part of the training that our Guardians and Champions undertake. It is also built into the FTSU manager training available via ESR or face to face with our Guardian.

It is important to understand what will happen when you speak up. Sometimes people are apprehensive about an issue escalating too quickly or a lack of confidentiality especially in small teams. The key thing from an FTSU perspective is that the next steps will be agreed with you. Sometimes simply having the discussion with someone independent of the situation can give you the confidence to take your own action.

We recognise that people face different barriers to speaking up, raising concerns and making sure their voice is heard. We are working hard to try to break these barriers but we can't do this alone, we need to understand more from those facing these barriers so please contribute to the conversations this month, and speak to your local FTSU Champion.

Week 2: Freedom to Speak Up Blog - Meet Helen Martin, FTSU Guardian

What does a good day at work look like for you? Meeting your own goals and expectations of the day; having enough time, equipment and resources to fulfil your job properly; having a good working relationship with colleagues and the people who use our services?

I think we all come to work in the expectation that we are going to have a good day. Sometimes though, for whatever reason, that seems like a hard ask. I hope that all colleagues feel they have someone they can go to when things aren’t going as expected. That may be a trusted manager or colleague.

However, sometimes you may want to speak to or raise a concern with someone who is independent to your own team or colleagues. That could be where you may find speaking to a Freedom to Speak up Champion or Guardian may help.

We have a great network of staff from across many teams in the organisation, who have volunteered to be FTSU Champions. They want to help make a difference.

We meet as a group regularly and also sometimes one to one to discuss issues that are troubling staff and how we can both support staff directly and also sign post them to other support and help.

We look at how we can learn from what we have been told, so that other staff don’t experience the same issues.

Staff can raise any concern or issue that doesn’t feel right, no matter how big or small (sometimes the smallest things have the biggest impact). FTSU isn’t just about being listened to, its about being heard, feeling that you are in a safe space to raise your concern and seeing actions being taken.

I’d like to think that everyone feels that they can speak up. However, we know that there are many barriers to raising a concern and people can find it a challenging thing to do. We are always looking at how we can improve what we do, so if you have any ideas, please do get in touch.

At LHCH, we want to make the working day as safe and productive as we all want it to be. Most of us spend much of our time in work so we want the majority of the time spent here to be happy and for you to feel supported.

I believe that by working together, by listening to one another, we can all have that good day at work which we are all looking for.

Week 1: Freedom to Speak Up Blog - Meet Margaret Carney, FTSU Non Exec Lead

Just over 2 years ago I joined the LHCH family as a Non-Executive Director (NED).  I hadn’t worked in the NHS before and so the myriad of acronyms and clinical language was bewildering at first (to be truthful it still is sometimes!). So, when I was asked to be lead NED for FTSU my first reaction was; what's that? Freedom to Speak Up was the response.  

So, I did my homework.  I read all the background material, familiarised myself with the Trusts strategy, policies and process.  I looked at the statistics and met with the FTSU Guardian and Executive lead. 

What struck me is that FTSU cannot be just about having an effective process for people to raise concerns, as important as this is.  The essential ingredient is to have a culture that welcomes challenge, where everyone feels able and safe to speak up to improve the quality and safety of care for our patients and enhances the experience of everyone that works for LHCH. It is about a culture of continuous improvement where everyone’s voice is welcome and heard.

My role as the NED lead is to support the FTSU guardian by acting as an independent voice and board level champion for those who raise concerns.  I regularly meet with the Guardian and Executive Lead to understand how we are doing and to listen to emerging themes from speak ups.  I also attend the Trusts Freedom to Speak Up Champion network to hear first-hand some of the matters which are being raised by people on the ground.  This is invaluable for me, not just to hear the themes that people are speaking up about and what action we are taking, but also to seek assurance that we are constantly striving to remove barriers people may face in raising their concerns.  

Questions I regularly ask myself and others are:

• Does everyone in the organisation know how to raise a concern?  
• Do they feel safe and supported to speak up?
• Are people put off because they don’t think anything will happen as a result of speaking out?  

I am delighted to say that LHCH has a great track record on these issues.  We get some fantastic feedback from staff and external agencies. Our staff survey results are amongst the highest in the country for having a voice that counts and feeling safe to speak up about concerns.  We are also in the top 5 Trusts in the country for FSTU as measured by the National Guardians office.  However, we will not be satisfied until 100% of people feel safe to speak up, are listened to and know that the matters raised will be acted upon. We are always looking at ways to improve the FTSU process and how we respond.  If you have any suggestions on how we can do this, please let us know. 

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has raised a concern, all FTSU champions, and everyone who works tirelessly to create and support our culture of improvement and focus on safety and quality.  You are making a real difference in delivering our mission to provide excellent, compassionate and safe care for our patients and
our populations, every day.