Outstanding Q&As
We received two questions after the AGM – here they are, with our answers
Q Can more be done to stop violence and aggression towards staff - at the moment not much seems to happen to sanction people?
A We are working hard to prevent and minimise the impact of violence and aggression in our hospitals which is, sadly, a significant issue across the NHS currently. We have set up a cross-organisational task force, chaired by our chief executive, to understand root causes and drive actions. We are prioritising actions in areas, such as A&E and intensive care, that are most impacted by violence and aggression, and we are focusing on actions we can take to diffuse pressure and prevent abuse occurring as well as to protect and support staff when a situation does escalate. Recent developments include expanding the use of body worn cameras, improving patient communications in key areas and being clearer about what is and isn’t permitted in our hospitals in terms of photography and filming and the use of social media to raise concerns about individual members of staff.
Q My question for the board, the issue of discrimination and bullying is not local to the trust but is a problem across the NHS, is it possible for Imperial to be the voice for the people that suffer and endure this, I believe in the long run you would save financially if you are not taking in the walking wounded that come find refuge with you. I have a personal interest in this in that I am one of the people who have left other trust. Is there a way of raising the profile of the problem of bullying and discrimination in the NHS?
A Thank you for your question – we are very sorry to hear that this has been your experience. It is an area that needs significant improvement across the NHS, and we include our own Trust in that. We are doing a lot of work to improve inclusion and prevent discrimination and seeing continuous improvement in our feedback from staff, though still much more to do. We would encourage you to get involved in this work, probably best via one of our race equality staff networks. All of the details for staff networks are on the intranet.
In terms of specific actions and resources to be aware of:
- Making sure staff have a safe route to raise concern
- We launched a new anti-bullying and harassment policy in 2023 which sets out a very clear route to raise concerns and the way we will manage those concerns.
- We developed a resolution policy in 2023 to provide a clear and timely pathway for investigations and the resolution of issues once raised.
- We have a number of routes to raise concerns including our Freedom to speak up Guardians, our people and organisational development teams, our staff side representatives and our race equality ambassadors.
- Making sure staff are well supported when they raise concerns
- We have dedicated resource from our in house counselling team, CONTACT, who can support staff prior to and whilst raising concerns.
- Training and support for line managers
- Creating the right culture in our teams and departments is crucial and in the last two years we have introduced a significant programme to train all line managers and help them create a culture of dignity and respect in their teams.
- We also run a programme called 'active bystander' which helps to give staff the skills and confidence to speak out when they see examples of the behaviours we don't want to see.
