Public Board of Directors papers 27.01.22

Summary of findings: The recommendation is for the board to review the report and assure itself with regard the Freedom to Speak Up Process, such as colleagues feeling able and supported to speak up, the board having mechanisms to hear the experiences of colleagues, and the board being held to account as a fair employer. Other comments are made but without specific recommendations. Summary of Findings on Matters Outside the Terms of Reference 1. There were differences of opinion about the historical effectiveness of the R+I leadership team at The Christie 2. The Christie has a commitment to zero tolerance bullying and harassment as demonstrated by the “Respect Campaign” 3. There is no evidence of systemic or widespread racism at The Christie 4. There was no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing including of bribery and embezzlement and as alleged publicly and repeatedly in widely circulated emails and social media by a former employee 5. The full board was made aware of concerns raised in at its meeting of September 2020. Responses to Findings and Recommendations Terms of Reference 1 - How the Trust responded to the review conducted by Wendy Fisher which highlighted issues in management and culture within the R+I division in 2018 The review confirms that in 2018 the R+I Division commissioned an operational review to assist in improving clinical trial set up times with the action plan being monitored through the divisional board and recommendations on wider issues being addressed in the draft research strategy The “Wendy Fisher” report was the result of an operational review commissioned in 2018 by the R+I Division leadership to identify ways in which trial set up times, one of the key national metrics could be further improved. In response to the report’s recommendations the R+I Divisional Board and Research Strategy Group oversaw an action plan which was then discussed at the regular performance meetings with the executive team. As it was operational in nature the report was not considered by the full board of directors. The cultural issues referred to in the Wendy Fisher report relate to reported tensions between those responsible for delivering The Christie’s substantial clinical trials and research activities and those responsible to ensuring that clinical service performance standards are met. This is common in organisations such as ours which bring together clinical service, research, and education responsibilities as part of a comprehensive service. It is something that the executive team and board of directors are very aware of and is the frequent focus of support and performance activities within the hospital. The review report implies that the identified cultural issues relate to inappropriate behaviour whereas they in fact relate to more subtle differences of view on relative priorities within operational teams. We note that the review team itself does not appear to have enquired into this matter directly but relied on the findings of the 2018 report. Historically, The Christie has performed relatively well in relation to national (NIHR) metrics for trial set up, delivery and recruitment but as a leading cancer centre we want to better our performance. Throughout the pandemic period we have been consistently in the top performance category nationally, scoring above benchmark cancer centres and at the same level as large multi-speciality teaching centres. Between July 2020 and June 2021, The Christie were in 6 th position nationally (England) in terms of the number of studies submitted (119). In terms of set-up times, the Christie took 69 days to set-up a trial and recruit the first patient, faster than peer organisations and

18