Public BoD papers 28.04.22

Agenda item 16/22d

Meeting of the Board of Directors Thursday 28 th April 2022 Freedom to Speak Up report 1 st October 2021 to 31 st March 2022

1. Background The Freedom To Speak Up Guardian’s role is to support staff to effectively raise concerns, address barriers to speaking up and foster a positive speaking up culture so that concerns raised are viewed as an opportunity for learning and improvement. This report presents the regular six-month update on activity to the Trust board. 2. Activity The Freedom to Speak Up Guardian continues to attend meetings, induction, medical induction to highlight the importance of speaking up and listening. Promotion of these messages will be supported by the introduction of the Freedom to Speak Up champions. 3. National guidance and reports Throughout the last six months five reports or guidance have been issued and reviewed. Any learning identified and progress with the actions required are monitored by the Workforce Committee. The reports are as follows: • NGO review of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust • NGO - Learning from case reviews: A tool to support gap analysis to improve speaking up arrangements • Review at West Sussex NHS Foundation Trust • Launch of Health Education England/NGO training modules on Speak Up and Listen Up • Freedom to Speak Up Guardian survey Documents produced as a result of the reports or guidance are:- • Standard Operating Procedure - Commissioning a confidential, independent investigation • Role description – Non-executive director lead for Freedom to Speak Up • Job description FTSUG – updated and job matched to the national standard job description NHS England/ Improvement/NGO are conducting a review of the national NHS Freedom to Speak up policy and have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure the policy reflects current best practice. The new policy is due in April and the current trust policy will be updated accordingly. 4. Reviews The rapid review on the FTSU concern raised with NHSEI has been received. Findings from this, and other audit reports have been considered and the outputs have been: • Development of a Standard Operating Procedure - Governance Arrangements when a Freedom to Speak Up concern is raised

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