Speaking up for patient safety: Helené Donnelly in conversation with Peter Duffy and Helen Hughes

Summary

In this interview series, NHS whistleblower Peter Duffy and Patient Safety Learning’s Chief Executive Helen Hughes explore how the healthcare system responds when its staff raise concerns about patient safety. In each episode, Helen and Peter interview someone who has spoken up about patient safety issues in healthcare organisations, or who works to help staff raise concerns where they see unsafe care.

In this interview, Peter and Helen speak to Helené Donnelly OBE, who spoke up about unsafe care she witnessed while working as a nurse at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Helené contributed as a witness to the inquiry led by Sir Robert Francis KC into failings at the trust and was also an advisor in the Freedom to Speak up Review in 2015, where she called for the creation of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in the NHS.

Helené explains why she decided to raise concerns about the quality of nursing care at Stafford Hospital A&E and describes the bullying and threats she received from other staff as a result. She discusses with Peter and Helen the barriers that still prevent staff speaking up today and what can be done to create a more open and responsive culture in teams and organisations. Helené highlights the need to reform how human resources departments respond to staff raising concerns and the vital role of embedding speaking up and organisational culture in the curriculum of all healthcare professional training courses.

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View a transcript of this interview

Read a blog from Peter and Helen about the interview series

Content

About the author

Helené is a registered Nurse Practitioner with over twenty-five years of experience working in the NHS and Social Care. In 2013, Helené was appointed to act as NHS Ambassador for Culture Change and pioneered the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian role supporting staff to raise concerns, ensuring the voice of the frontline is heard clearly at a senior level within organisations. Helené previously worked in the A&E department at Stafford Hospital and following her experience and difficulties in trying to raise concerns there, she was a key witness at the Public Inquiry held by Robert Francis QC into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Helené is currently National Head of Safety Culture for Nuffield Health, the UKs largest healthcare charity. She continues to advise and collaborate with the NHS, government and relevant stakeholders on the importance of embedding and sustaining positive cultures.