Public Board of Directors papers 27.01.22

• The monthly open forum led by the Chief Nurse Terms of Reference 6 - In the Context of These Issues Consider What learning the Trust Should Consider and Make Recommendations in that Respect The “Rapid Review” team’s recommendation is for the BoD to review the report and assure itself with regard to aspects of 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. In response the recommendations in this section we can confirm that: • The board has taken several opportunities over the past year to consider and assure itself about its role in the Freedom to Speak Up Process, in listening to staff experiences and ensuring fair employment processes • Our Freedom to Speak Up process and policy has been updated in line with national guidance • We supplement our participation in the staff survey with a variety of qualitative methods for obtaining staff views • Our workforce policies are overseen by the Workforce Committee reports to the Management Board and BoD. • We would have welcomed, and would still welcome, an opportunity to discuss the report with the Rapid Review Team as way of understanding the points made and extracting possible learning Conclusions The “Rapid Review” report relates to matters that in many instances took place 12 months or more prior to the review interviews with a further 12 months having now passed since the work was commissioned by the Regional Office. Over the intervening two years, whilst awaiting the advice of the review team, we have acted upon the lessons from events in our R+I Division as we see them and as identified in self- critical exercises we have commissioned, such as the work by Andrew Hughes referred to in the report and a variety of audits commissioned by the Audit Committee. These actions are described in the paper, and it is, in some ways, reassuring that the recommendations of the “Rapid Review” team largely reflect those actions that we had included in our own action plan. Other key learning points for the Trust that we have built into our procedures and policies or otherwise acted on are: • The need to ensure that the R+I Director role is fully supported with adequate time commitment and structured access to the Management Board and Board of Directors to ensure good communication with and involvement of clinical academics in strategic developments and the management of large ambitious projects and to ensure that R+I issues can be effectively escalated and misunderstandings avoided. • The benefits of clarity of objectives and project management arrangements when embarking on large projects and the value of a pre project appraisal to assess likely resources and timescales. • The value of making formal appointments to clinical leadership positions in large projects to clarify objectives, expectations, timescales, resource requirements and communication channels. • The importance of supporting the FTSUG by providing clear mechanisms to escalate complex concerns which enable their thorough investigation whilst maintaining confidentiality where this is requested. • The importance of comprehensive but appropriate feedback to those raising concerns under the FTSU process so that they are aware of the full range of responses being made, particularly in complex cases.

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