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Showing results for tags 'Speaking up'.
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News ArticleA review of a clinical commissioning group has discovered “microaggressions and insensitivities” towards Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, and the use of derogatory slurs about other groups. The report into Surrey Heartlands CCG also uncovered incidents of shouting, screaming and bullying among other inappropriate behaviour. And it was reported some staff were unwilling to accept Black Lives Matter events as important, stating “all lives matter”. The review also discovered a culture of denial and turning a blind eye to consistent concerns, with staff fearful of speaking up. In particular, the HR department was said to have been repeatedly told about the behaviour of one staff member but had chosen to ignore or delay dealing with the issues. However, the review found “no evidence for widespread discriminatory practices” and “no clear evidence for a widespread culture of bullying and ill-treatment” — but it added the systems to deal with concerns had failed and there was a sense of “organisational inaction”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 November 2020
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News ArticleThe chairman of an inquiry that has confirmed a 20-year cover-up over the avoidable death of a baby has warned there are other families who may have suffered a similar ordeal. Publishing the findings of his investigation into the 2001 death of Elizabeth Dixon, Dr Bill Kirkup said he wanted to see action taken to prevent harmed families having to battle for years to get answers. Dr Kirkup, who has been involved in multiple high-profile investigations of NHS failures in recent years, said: “There has been considerable difficulty in establishing investigations, where events are regarded as historic. I don't like the term historic investigations. I think that these things remain current for the people who've suffered harm, until they're resolved, it’s not historic for them. “There has been significant reluctance to look at a variety of cases. Mr and Mrs Dixon were courageous and very persistent and they were given help by others and were successful in securing the investigation and it worries me that other people haven't been. “I do think we should look at how we can establish a proper mechanism that will make sure that such cases are heard." “It's impossible to rule out there being other people who are in a similar position. In fact, I know of some who are. I think it's as important for them that they get heard, and that they get things that should have been looked at from the start looked at now, if that's the best that we can do.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 November 2020
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Community PostIt's #SpeakUpMonth in the #NHS so why isn't the National Guardian Office using the word whistleblowing? After all it was the Francis Review into whistleblowing that led to the recommendation for Speak Up Guardians. I believe that if we don't talk about it openly and use the word 'WHISTLEBLOWING' we will be unable to learn and change. Whistleblowing isn’t a problem to be solved or managed, it’s an opportunity to learn and improve. So many genuine healthcare whistleblowers seem to be excluded from contributing to the debate, and yes not all those who claim to be whistleblowers are genuine. The more we move away for labelling and stereotyping, and look at what's happening from all angles, the more we will learn. Regardless of our position, role or perceived status, we all need to address this much more openly and explicitly, in a spirit of truth and with a genuine desire to learn and change.
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Content ArticleProblems related to the care home and the company were known well before the Panorama expose in 2016. When the Panorama programme was aired it resulted in immediate closure of one home and all the homes which were operated by Morleigh being transferred to new operators. The Review includes reports of abuse against residents; residents being left to lie in wet urine-soaked bedsheets; concerns from relatives about their loved ones being neglected; reports of there being insufficient food for residents, no hot water and no heating; claims that dozens of residents were sharing one bathroom. Here's a summary of the report's findings: More than 100 residents had concerns raised more than once. More than 200 safeguarding alerts were made for individuals but only 16 went through to an individual adult safeguarding conference. More than 80 whistleblower or similar reports were made concerning issues that put residents at risk. 44 inspections were undertaken at Morleigh Group homes in the three-year period, the vast majority identifying breaches. There was a period of at least 12 months when four of the homes had no registered manager in place. During the three-year period reviewed the police received 130 reports relating to the care homes. A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “We have different procedures and policies in place and have invested time, money and staffing into making sure that we can respond better when concerns are raised.'' “One of the problems was that all the partners had their own policies and procedures but they weren’t integrated. That is probably one of the key issues that we have now addressed.” “The assessment is so different now and the organisations are working much more closely that it reduces the risk dramatically.'' This is an important and long-awaited review. This situation echoes other care home scandals across the UK. I urge everyone to read the full report and reflect on the real root causes of the problem, which I believe go well beyond failings in inter-agency policies and communication. What would your action plan be? How would you monitor it?
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Content ArticleOver the past three years, HEE has worked with its clinical leads, providers and more to address the report’s 12 recommendations: Ensure learning from patient safety data and good practice. Develop and use a common language to describe all elements of quality improvement science and human factors with respect to patient safety. Ensure robust evaluation of education and training for patient safety . Engage patients, family members, carers and the public in the design and delivery of education and training for patient safety. Supporting the duty of candour is vital and there must be high quality educational training packages available. The learning environment must support all learners and staff to raise and respond to concerns about patient safety. The content of mandatory training for patient safety needs to be coherent across the NHS. All NHS leaders need patient safety training so they can have the knowledge and tools to drive change and improvement. Education and training must support the delivery of more integrated ‘joined-up’ care. Ensure increased opportunities for inter-professional learning . Principles of human factors and professionalism must be embedded across education and training Ensure staff have the skills to identify and manage potential risks. This has led to the implementation of many education, training and development schemes that promote safe clinical practice across all health and care services. This guide highlights many of the key areas where progress has been made, while offering a roadmap to what still needs to be achieved. Most importantly, it illustrates how all NHS stakeholders – including you – can get involved to help adopt and promote a safety-first culture whichever care sector you work within.
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Report into Covid-related whistleblowing calls to the Protect advice Line
Clive Flashman posted a news article in News
What does whistleblowing in a pandemic look like? Do employers take concerns more seriously – as we would all hope? Does the victimisation of whistleblowers still happen? Does a pandemic compel more people to speak up? We wanted to know, so Protect analysed the data from all the Covid-19 related calls to theirr Advice Line. They found: * 41% of whistleblowers had Covid-19 concerns ignored by employers * 20% of whistleblowers were dismissed * Managers more likely to be dismissed (32% ) than non-managers (21%) They found that too many whistleblowers feel ignored and isolated once they raise their concerns and that these failing are a systematic problem. Protect, which runs an Advice Line for whistleblowers, and supports more than 3,000 whistleblowers each year, has been inundated with Covid-19 whistleblowing concerns, many of an extremely serious nature. Its report, The Best Warning System: Whistleblowing During Covid-19 examines over 600 Covid-19 calls to its Advice Line between March and September. The majority of cases were over furlough fraud and risk to public safety, such as a lack of social distancing and PPE in the workplace. -
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Speak Up Month 2020
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Speak Up Guardians
A is for... Anonymity and Antibullying B is for...BAME Workers, Barriers C is for Compassion, Civility Saves Lives and Courage D is for... Doctors, Dentists and Data. E is for... Everyone, Ethics and Empathy F is for... Feedback and Forgiveness G is for... Growth Mindset, Guardians and General Practice H is for... HR and Helping one another to speak up I is for... Impartiality and Integrity J is for... Just and Learning Culture K is for...Kindness L is for...Leadership, Learning (1) and Learning (2) M is for... Model Hospital, Matters and Midwives N is for... Nurses O is for... Ombudsmen P is for...Patients and People Q is for... Questions R is for... Retaliation Research and Right Thing to Do and Regional Integration S is for... System-Wide Support and Safer Systems and Speaking up for Patient Safety and Safety and Speaking Up T is for... Trainees and Trust U is for... Understanding and Uniting V is for... Volunteers and 100 Voices and Voice W is for... WRES experts and Whistleblowing and Workers X is for... Xenophobia Y is for... You Said, We Did Z is for... Zeitgeist Follow the link below to hear more about Speak Up Month from Dr Henrietta Hughes, National Guardian for the NHS.- Posted
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News ArticleFollowing a damning report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) has been placed into special measures. It comes after inspectors uncovered a culture of bullying and sexual harassment at the trust. As a result of the decision, EEAST will receive enhanced support to improve its services. A statement from NHS England and NHS Improvement outlined that the Trust would be supported with the appointment of an improvement director, the facilitation of a tailored ‘Freedom to Speak Up’ support package, the arrangement of an external ‘buddying’ with fellow ambulance services and Board development sessions. This follows a CQC recommendation to place the trust in special measures due to challenges around patient and staff safety concerns, workforce processes, complaints and learning, private ambulance service (PAS) oversight and monitoring, and the need for improvement in the trust’s overarching culture to tackle inappropriate behaviours and encourage people to speak up. Ann Radmore, East of England Regional Director said, “While the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been working through its many challenges, there are long-standing concerns around culture, leadership and governance, and it is important that the trust supports its staff to deliver the high-quality care that patients deserve." “We know that the trust welcomes this decision and shares our commitment to reshape its culture and address quality concerns for the benefit of staff, patients and the wider community.” Read full story Source: Bedford Independent, 19 October 2020
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Freedom to Speak Up News (August 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Speak Up Guardians
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Sask. nurse who was disciplined over Facebook comments wins court appeal
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Saskatchewan's highest court has ruled in favour of a nurse who was disciplined after she complained on Facebook about the care her grandfather had received in a long-term care facility. In a decision delivered Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal set aside a decision by the province's Registered Nurses Association that found Carolyn Strom guilty of unprofessional conduct. Strom was off-duty when she aired her concerns on Facebook in 2015, a few weeks after her grandfather's death. In her Facebook post, she said staff at St. Joseph's Integrated Health Centre in the town of Macklin, about 225 kilometres west of Saskatoon, needed to do a better job of looking after elderly patients. The lawyer for the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association argued that Strom personally attacked an identifiable group without attempting to get all the facts about her grandfather's care. In 2016, she was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $25,000 to cover the cost of the tribunal. After the association's decision, she received support from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, as well as nurses and civil liberties groups across the country. "Once I understood what this case meant ... once it was past being just about me, I didn't want someone else to have to go through the same thing. Because it's been rough," Strom said. Strom says she continued to fight the decision because she wanted nurses to be able to talk about, and advocate for, better care for family members publicly and in a respectful manner. "You should be able to properly advocate for family members, regardless of whether you're a health-care member." "And I felt that if this decision went wrong, it would actually hurt people who have healthcare members as family members. because they would have to be a little more careful and not express concerns for fear of punishment." Appeal court Justice Brian Barrington-Foote wrote in his decision that Strom's freedom of expression was unjustifiably infringed, and she had a right to criticise the care her grandfather received. The judge ruled that criticism of the healthcare system is in the public interest, and when it comes from front-line workers it can bring positive change. Read full story Source: CBC News, 6 October 2020 . -
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Speak Up Month 2020
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
October is Speak Up Month – a chance to raise awareness of Freedom to Speak Up and the work which is going on in organisations to make speaking up business as usual. 2020 has been an extraordinary year, and all NHS workers, whatever their role, have been under increased pressure from the COVID-19 crisis. Throughout October the National Guardian Freedom to Speak Up will be sharing their Alphabet of Speak Up – from Anonymity to Zero Tolerance. 26 days to explore the issues, the people, the values, the challenges – everything which goes into what Freedom to Speak Up means in health. #SpeakUpABC National Guardian Freedom to Speak Up -
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News ArticleFor more than two decades, Derek McMinn harvested the bones of his patients, according to a leaked report – but it was not until last year that anyone challenged the renowned surgeon. The full scale of his alleged collection was apparently kept from the care regulator until just days ago, and thousands of those who went under his knife for hip and knee treatment still have no idea that their joints may have been collected in a pot in the operating theatre, and stored in the 67-year-old’s office or home. Clinicians and managers at the BMI Edgbaston Hospital, where McMinn carried out the majority of his operations, actively took part in the collection of bones and – even after alarms were raised – the hospital did not immediately act to stop the tissue being taken away, according to a leaked internal report seen by The Independent. An investigation found operating theatre staff at the private hospital left dozens of pots containing joints removed from patients femurs during hip surgery in a storage area, in some cases for months. According to the report, there had been warnings about their responsibilities under the Human Tissue Act when an earlier audit between 2010 and 2015 identified the storage of femoral heads, the joints removed in the procedure. The internal report said there was no evidence McMinn had carried out any research or had been approved for any research work – required by the Human Tissue Authority to legally store samples. It said one member of staff told investigators the samples were being collected for research on McMinn’s retirement. Although the Care Quality Commission knew about claims that a small number of bones being kept by McMinn, it is understood that the regulator received a copy of the BMI Healthcare investigation report only last Friday, after The Independent had made initial inquiries about the case. That report suggests a minimum of 5,224 samples had been taken by McMinn. The regulator confirmed to The Independent it had not been aware of the extent of McMinn’s supposed actions. An insider at BMI Healthcare accused the company of “covering up”, adding: “Quite senior staff at the hospital went along with it and just handed the pots over to his staff when they came to collect them.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 30 September 2020
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News ArticleAn ambulance service could be put in special measures after a damning report criticised poor leadership for fostering bullying and not acting decisively on allegations of predatory sexual behaviour towards patients. East of England Ambulance Service Trust failed to protect patients and staff from sexual abuse, inappropriate behaviour and harassment, the Care Quality Commission said. It failed to support the mental health and wellbeing of staff, with high levels of bullying and harassment. Staff who raised concerns were not treated with respect and some senior leaders adopted a “combative and defensive approach” which stopped staff speaking out. “The leadership, governance and culture still did not support delivery of high-quality care,” the CQC said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 30 September 2020
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News ArticleToo many English hospitals risk repeating maternity scandals involving avoidable baby deaths and brain injury because staff are too frightened to raise concerns, the chief inspector of hospitals has warned. Speaking at the opening session of an inquiry into the safety of maternity units by the health select committee, Prof Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals for the Care Quality Commission, said: “There are too many cases when tragedy strikes because services are not not doing their job well enough.” Baker admitted that 38% of such services were deemed to require improvement for patient safety and some could get even worse. “There is a significant number of services that are not achieving the level of safety they should,” he said. He said many NHS maternity units were in danger of repeating fatal mistakes made at what became the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS foundation trust (UHMBT), despite a high profile 2015 report finding that a “lethal mix” of failings at almost every level led to the unnecessary deaths of one mother and 11 babies. “Five years on from Morecombe Bay we have still not learned all the lessons,” Baker said. “[The] Morecombe Bay [report] did talk about about dysfunctional teams and midwives and obstetricians not working effectively together, and poor investigations without learning taking place. And I think those elements are what we are still finding in other services.” Baker urged hospital managers to encourage staff to whistleblow about problems without fear of recrimination. He said: “The reason why people are frightened to raise concerns is because of the culture in the units in which they work. A healthy culture would mean that people routinely raise concerns. But raising concerns is regarded as being a difficult member of the team.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2020
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Organisational silence in the NHS: ‘Hear no, See no, Speak no’
Sam posted an article in Bullying and fear
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