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Freedom to speak up policy: raising concerns (whistleblowing) policy

Contents

  1. Speak up, we will listen
  2. This policy
  3. What concerns can I raise?
  4. Feel safe to raise your concern
  5. Confidentiality
  6. Who can raise concerns?
  7. Who should I raise my concern with?
  8. Advice and support
  9. How should I raise my concern?
  10. What will we do?
  11. Investigation
  12. Communicating with you
  13. How will we learn from your concern?
  14. Board oversight
  15. Review
  16. Raising your concern with an outside body
  17. Making a protected disclosure
  18. National guardian freedom to speak up
  19. Appendices

1 Speak up, we will listen

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.

2 This policy

This ‘standard integrated policy’ was one of a number of recommendations of the review by Sir Robert Francis into whistleblowing in the NHS, aimed at improving the experience of whistleblowing in the NHS. It is expected that this policy (produced by NHS Improvement and NHS England) is adopted by RDASH and all NHS organisations in England as a minimum standard to help to normalise the raising of concerns for the benefit of all patients.

3 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 should be reported to our local counter-fraud team via the local counter fraud specialists (LCFS) at 01709 428701 in line with the trust’s Counter fraud, bribery and corruption policy
  • a bullying culture (across a team or organisation rather than individual instances of bullying)

For further examples, please see the health education England video.

Remember that if you are a healthcare professional you may have a professional duty to report a concern. If in doubt, please raise it. Don’t wait for proof. We would like you to raise the matter while it is still a concern. It doesn’t matter if you turn out to be mistaken as long as you are genuinely troubled.

This policy is not for people with concerns about their employment that affect only them, that type of concern is better suited to our grievance and dispute policy.

4 Feel safe to raise your concern

If you raise a genuine concern under this policy, you will not be at risk of losing your job or suffering any form of reprisal as a result. We will not tolerate harassment or victimisation of anyone raising a concern. Nor will we tolerate any attempt to bully you into not raising any such concern. Any such behaviour is a breach of our values as an organisation and, if upheld following investigation, could result in disciplinary action.

Provided you are acting honestly, it does not matter if you are mistaken or if there is an innocent explanation for your concerns.

5 Confidentiality

We hope you will feel comfortable raising your concern openly, but we also appreciate that you may want to raise it confidentially. This means that while you are willing for your identity to be known to the person you report your concern to, you do not want anyone else to know your identity. Therefore, we will keep your identity confidential, if that is what you want, unless required to disclose it by law (for example, by the police). You can choose to raise your concern anonymously, without giving anyone your name, but that may make it more difficult for us to investigate thoroughly and give you feedback on the outcome.

6 Who can raise concerns?

Anyone who works (or has worked) in the NHS, or for an independent organisation that provides NHS services can raise concerns. This includes agency workers, temporary workers, students, volunteers and governors.

7 Who should I raise my concern with?

In many circumstances the easiest way to get your concern resolved will be to raise it formally or informally with your line manager (or lead clinician or tutor). But where you don’t think it is appropriate to do this, you can use any of the options set out below in the first instance.

If your concern is in relation to fraud, bribery or corruption you need to report this directly to the trust’s counter fraud specialist in line with the trust’s counter fraud, bribery and corruption policy.

If raising it with your line manager (or lead clinician or tutor) does not resolve matters, or you do not feel able to raise it with them, you can contact one of the following people:

7.1 Our freedom to speak up guardian

James Hatfield, Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.

The freedom to speak up guardian role is an important role identified in the freedom to speak up review to act as an independent and impartial source of advice to staff at any stage of raising a concern, with access to anyone in the organisation, including the chief executive, or if necessary, outside the organisation.

7.2 Our Risk Management team

Mr Philip Gowland, Director of Corporate Assurance and Board Secretary at 03000 213 000 or p.gowland@nhs.net. If you still remain concerned after this, you can contact the executive director.

7.3 Our executive director with responsibility for whistleblowing

Sheila Lloyd, executive director of nursing and AHPS at 03000 211 478 or sheila.lloyd3@nhs.net or Nicola McIntosh, Executive Director for People and Organisational Development at nicola.mcintosh3@nhs.net.

7.4 Our non-executive director with responsibility for whistleblowing and is our wellbeing guardian

Dave Vallance at 03000 211 203 or dave.vallance@nhs.net.

All these people have been trained in receiving concerns and will give you information about where you can go for more support.

If for any reason you do not feel comfortable raising your concern internally, you can raise concerns with external bodies, listed on page 10.

8 Advice and support

Details on the local support available to you can be found on the local support intranet site (staff access only) (opens in new window), you can also find a video regarding FTSU and you can report your own concern through the e-link provided.

However, you can also contact the whistleblowing helpline 08000 724 725 for the NHS and social care, your professional body or trade union representative.

9 How should I raise my concern?

You can raise your concerns with any of the people listed above in person, by phone or in writing (including email).

Whichever route you choose, please be ready to explain as fully as you can the information and circumstances that gave rise to your concern.

10 What will we do?

We are committed to the principles of the freedom to speak up review and its vision for raising concerns and will respond in line with them (see appendix B).

We are committed to listening to our staff, learning lessons and improving patient care. On receipt the concern will be recorded, and you will receive an acknowledgement within two working days. The central record will record the date the concern was received, whether you have requested confidentiality, a summary of the concerns and dates when we have given you updates or feedback.

11 Investigation

Where you have been unable to resolve the matter quickly (usually within a few days) with your line manager, we will carry out a proportionate investigation, using someone suitably independent (usually from a different part of the organisation) and properly trained, and we will reach a conclusion within a reasonable timescale (which we will notify you of). Wherever possible we will carry out a single investigation (so, for example, where a concern is raised about a patient safety incident, we will usually undertake a single investigation that looks at your concern and the wider circumstances of the incident). If your concern suggests a serious incident has occurred, an investigation will be carried out in accordance with the serious incident framework (opens in new window). The investigation will be objective and evidence-based and will produce a report that focuses on identifying and rectifying any issues and learning lessons to prevent problems recurring.

We may decide that your concern would be better looked at under another process; for example, our process for dealing with bullying and harassment. If so, we will discuss that with you. Any employment issues (that affect only you and not others) identified during the investigation will be considered separately.

If your concern highlights any suspicions of fraud, bribery or corruption, a referral will be made to the trust’s counter fraud specialist see the following counter fraud, bribery and corruption policy.

12 Communicating with you

We will treat you with respect at all times and will thank you for raising your concerns. We will discuss your concerns with you to ensure we understand exactly what you are worried about. We will tell you how long we expect the investigation to take and keep you up to date with its progress. Wherever possible, we will share the full investigation report with you (while respecting the confidentiality of others).

13 How will we learn from your concern?

The focus of the investigation will be on improving the service we provide for patients. Where it identifies improvements that can be made, we will track them to ensure necessary changes are made and are working effectively. Lessons will be shared with teams across the organisation, or more widely, as appropriate.

14 Board oversight

The board will be given high level information about all concerns raised by our staff through this policy and what we are doing to address any problems. We will include similar high-level information in our annual report. The board supports staff raising concerns and wants you to feel free to speak up.

15 Review

We will review the effectiveness of this policy and local process at least annually, with the outcome published and changes made as appropriate.

16 Raising your concern with an outside body

Alternatively, you can raise your concern outside the organisation with NHS improvement (opens in new window) for concerns about:

  • how NHS trusts and foundation trusts are being run
  • NHS procurement, choice and competition
  • the national tariff

Care quality commission who are we (opens in new window) for quality and safety concerns (opens in new window).

NHS England (opens in new window) for concerns about:

  • primary medical services (general practice)
  • primary dental services
  • primary ophthalmic services
  • local pharmaceutical services

Health Education England (opens in new window) for education and training in the NHS.

The NHS counter fraud authority for concerns about fraud, bribery and corruption (opens in new window).

17 Making a ‘protected disclosure’

There are very specific criteria that need to be met for an individual to be covered by whistleblowing law when they raise a concern (to be able to claim the protection that accompanies it). There is also a defined list of ‘prescribed persons’, similar to the list of outside bodies on page 7, who you can make a protected disclosure to. To help you consider whether you might meet these criteria, please seek independent advice from the whistleblowing helpline for the NHS and social care, public concern at work or a legal representative.

18 National guardian freedom to speak up

The new national guardian can independently provide case review how staff have been treated having raised concerns where NHS trusts and foundation trusts may have failed to follow good practice, working with some of the bodies listed above to take action where needed.

The national guardians office contact details are:

19 Appendices

19.1 Appendix A example process for raising and escalating a concern

19.1.1 Step one

If you have a concern about a risk, malpractice or wrongdoing at work, we hope you will feel able to raise it first with your line manager, lead clinician or tutor (for students). This may be done orally or in writing.

19.1.2 Step two

If you feel unable to raise the matter with your line manager, lead clinician or tutor, for whatever reason, please raise the matter with our local freedom to speak up guardian:

James Hatfield: freedom to speak up guardian

Contact can be made via telephone via the e-link upon the staff trust intranet or by rdash.ftsu@nhs.net.

This person has been given special responsibility and training in dealing with

‘Freedom to speak up’ and whistleblowing concerns. They will:

  • treat your concern confidentially unless otherwise agreed
  • ensure you receive timely support to progress your concern
  • escalate to the board any indications that you are being subjected to detriment for raising your concern
  • remind the organisation of the need to give you timely feedback on how your concern is being dealt with
  • ensure you have access to personal support since raising your concern may be stressful

If you want to raise the matter in confidence, please say so at the outset so that appropriate arrangements can be made. There are also a number of FTSU advocates in the trust who you can speak to whose pictures can be seen on the staff intranet.

19.1.3 Step three

Freedom to speak up, RDaSH staff intranet (staff access only) (opens in new window).

If these channels have been followed and you still have concerns, or if you feel that the matter is so serious that you cannot discuss it with any of the above, please contact Toby Lewis, Chief Executive at tobylewis@nhs.net or 03000 211 203. Alternatively contact Nicola McIntosh Director for People and Organisational Development on 03000 211 721 or nicola.mcintosh3@nhs.net.

19.1.4 Step four

You can raise concerns formally with external bodies detailed below. Public concern at work is a whistleblowing charity that employs lawyers to provide confidential, independent advice. They can be contacted on:

  • NSPCC: This is a free, confidential helpline linked to tackling child sexual exploitation. The service aim is to provide support to employees wishing to raise concerns over how child protection issues are being handled in their own organisations. Telephone: 0800 028 0285

The regulatory bodies relevant to the NHS include: 

19.2 Appendix B A vision for raising concerns in the NHS

19.2.1 Identifying that something might be wrong

  1. I know that it is right to speak up.
  2. My organisation is a supportive place to work.
  3. I am regularly asked for my views.
  4. I know how raise concerns and have had training which explained what to do.
  5. I know that I will not be bullied, victimised or harassed as a result of speaking up.

19.2.2 Raising a concern

  1. My colleagues and managers are approachable and trained in how to receive concerns.
  2. My organisation has a clear and positive procedure in place.
  3. I know where to go for support and advice.
  4. Concerns are taken seriously and clear records are kept.
  5. Managers always explain what will happen and keep me informed.

19.2.3 Examining the facts

  1. An independent, fair and objective investigation into the facts will take place promptly and without the purpose of finding someone to blame.
  2. The investigation will be given the necessary resource and scope.
  3. I am confident that any recommendations made will be based on the facts and designed primarily to promote safety and learning.
  4. I will be kept informed of developments.
  5. The process will be kept separate from any disciplinary or performance management action.

19.2.4 Outcomes and feedback

  1. Where there are lessons to be learned they will be identified and acted on.
  2. I will be satisfied the outcome if fair and reasonable, even if I do not agree with it.
  3. I will be told what was found out and what action is being taken.
  4. A plan to monitor the situation will be put in place.
  5. I feel confident that patients are safe and that my team remains a supportive place to work.

19.2.5 Reflecting and moving forward

  1. I will be thanked for speaking up.
  2. I will speak up again in future if the need arises.
  3. I know that my concerns will be taken seriously and actioned as appropriate.
  4. Lesson learnt will be shared and acted on by me and my colleagues.
  5. I will advise and support others to speak up in the future.

Document control

  • Version: 7.4.
  • Unique reference number: 237.
  • Ratified by: Corporate policy approval group.
  • Date ratified: 5 March 2024.
  • Name of originator or author: Trust freedom to speak up guardian.
  • Name of responsible individual: Director for people and organisational development.
  • Date issued: 12 March 2024 (extension).
  • Review date: June 2024.
  • Target audience: All staff.

Page last reviewed: April 12, 2024
Next review due: April 12, 2025

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