Freedom to speak up

You may feel worried about raising a concern, and we understand this. But please don’t be put off. 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.

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 Gareth Cottrell gareth.cottrell@nhs.net ex 8057)
• a bullying culture

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.

If you have a concern about your employment that affects only you, this type of concern is better suited to our Grievance and Disputes Policy and Procedure.

Ways to speak up:

Initially concerns are best raised with your line manager or a senior member of staff. You can also speak to a ‘freedom to speak up’ champion or the Guardian, safely and confidentially.

WorkInConfidence

If you would like to speak up anonymously you can do this on our Work in confidence App. The App is easy to use, highly secure and can be used on any device. Register here.

How does it work? You can use a web browser or app that is downloaded to a trust device. It works much like an email, but the big difference is you can have a conversation in the knowledge that you cannot be identified (that is a promise from WorkInConfidence).

How will my identity be protected? We will never know if you have used WorkInConfidence and your identity will never be revealed to us. If you’re concerned about how your identity will be protected, read more about it here https://info.workinconfidence.com or contact the WorkInConfidence team at help@workinconfidence.com. Of course, you can always get in touch with me directly to discuss this or any other speaking up concern.

Concerns System:

If you want to raise a concern then you can go to the Concerns System. You will be able to enter your concern anonymously or if you gave your contact details it can be directed to the relevant Freedom to speak up Champion or if you chose straight to the Guardian Change anonymously to confidentially the concerns system is not anonymous.

Email:

If you have any questions Jo Burton is our Freedom To Speak Up Guardian and can be contacted at rcht.freedomtospeakup@nhs.net. It is vital that all of us know we can and should continue to speak up.