The importance of having the freedom to speak up is business critical to the NHS.
It helps to ensure all our NHS people feel belonging and inclusion in the shape and future of the NHS and that our people want to stay and stay well.
In my role as the deputy head of the Workplace Race Equality Standard (WRES) programme at NHS England, I am close to the data. The WRES holds a wealth of quantitative data from electronic staff records (ESR) and qualitative comparable data from the NHS staff survey. It provides an insight of where NHS staff report their experiences of fair treatment as well as bullying, harassment and discrimination. With this data, we can shine a light on areas of concern for black, Asian and ethnic minority staff working in NHS trusts, across regions and the newly formed integrated care boards (ICBs).
Much of this data comes from the annual NHS Staff Survey, which is one of the largest workforce surveys in the world and has been running every year since 2003. The survey is an official statistic, run independently of NHS England and other NHS employing organisations.
Responses are kept confidential and anonymous, so it’s important we all have our say and speak up.
The more our NHS know about their people, the more the organisations can listen and act on their feedback, and the better the outcomes for us and in turn, our patients.
The 2022 NHS staff survey closes on Friday 25 November, please take part and make sure you have your say.
The NHS staff survey is an important aspect of shaping future actions of NHS employing organisations and other national policies like the WRES and the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) data.
This is one simple way you can have the freedom to speak up in the workplace, in under 20 minutes.
The NHS People Plan reminds us all of the importance of ‘Belonging in the NHS’ – with a particular focus on tackling the discrimination that some staff face, and our people promise to each other, that we each have a voice that counts – to feel safe to speak up.
Freedom to speak up means creating a culture in which everyone can speak up, regardless of their background, their band, their role, their age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or ethnicity. Speaking up is about anything and everything which gets in the way of patient care or affects the experience of workers in healthcare. It can refer to ideas for improvement, as well as raising concerns, complaints and issues.
When things go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt, and things are improved.
If we think something might go wrong, it’s important that we all feel able to speak up so that potential harm is prevented. Even when things are good, but could be even better, we should feel able to say something and should expect that our suggestion is listened to and used as an opportunity for improvement.
The WRES team works closely with the National Guardian’s Office to ensure that the freedom to speak up process is fit for purpose for all colleagues, and that freedom to speak up guardians are visible and approachable for everyone