Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust (LYPFT) is the main provider of mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services in Leeds, as well as more specialist services across the North of England. I became their first Freedom to Speak Up Guardian in October 2017 because I felt I could make a difference and help people safely raise matters.
I started my NHS career in mental health nursing as a staff nurse in our rehabilitation and recovery services after qualifying in 1998. I then progressed to roles in different settings including a forensic mental health team and experience in a private medium secure hospital and by 2015 I had worked my way up to be the Bed Manager. One of my first tasks as a Guardian was to raise awareness of how I could help people. I needed to encourage them to put their trust and faith in me.
Making sure I reached all staff including bank, agency, contractors and other seldom heard colleagues was a huge job. Engagement is key, and working closely with our Communication Team helped me to promote myself and my role when it was brand new. We did this through displays in clinical services, drop in events, blogs, and also some more informal use of Twitter. Our staff networks have been invaluable, providing a rich insight from different perspectives.
Within mental health services there are units which by their very nature are closed access. This can be a concern that negative ‘closed cultures’ develop. Because of the integrity of my experience as a long-standing member of staff at LYPFT, and the trust I have built up, I have open access to these units, so that I can visit freely and am available to all workers to speak up to.
As with most roles within the NHS, good quality supervision is a core requirement as some of the concerns can be very effecting. I have high levels of support from the Trust Board Chair, Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer. LYPFT were also able to provide a psychologist to offer regular supervision to the regional network too.
We have appointed five Freedom to Speak Up Ambassadors. These are voluntary roles and are fulfilled by a mixture of clinical and non clinical colleagues alongside their day jobs. They contribute to creating a culture of speaking up where all staff feel safe and confident to raise concerns.
Our core values are Caring, Simplicity and Integrity, and throughout my career and extended through the Guardian role these are always upheld with civility, dignity and respect for any colleagues raising concerns. Speaking up leads to improvements, and at all times I have remained solution-focused. Anyone raising a concern has always been thanked for speaking up.
Together we’ve managed over 320 concerns since I came into post in 2017. I’d like to think that’s 320 people we’ve helped find support for a problem they couldn’t solve on their own.
This case study appears in the National Guardian’s Office 2022-23 Annual Report