The trust is committed to eradicating bullying and harassment. It encourages staff to raise concerns as part of the Freedom to Speak Up campaign. The trust has a number of Speak Up Champions with whom staff can discuss and raise concerns that they may have.
Speak Up Champions are a point of contact for those who require advice. They can inform staff of the options available and direct them to take appropriate action or help them to seek support. They act as role models for creating an open, honest and transparent culture which values speaking up.
The types of concerns that you may want to raise with a Speak Up Champion could include:
- bullying and harassment
- someone's health and/or safety has been put in danger due to an action or inaction
- damage has been caused to the environment
- a criminal offence has been committed
- an employer fails to obey the law (such as not having appropriate insurance)
- a malpractice or wrongdoing has been covered up
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Please find below responses to some FAQs that have been raised by our staff. Please do let Joanna Bainbridge (Freedom to speak up Guardian) know if you have any questions you would like to ask, as we are very happy to respond and with your permission, we would like to add your questions and answers to our FAQ list.
Raising concerns, speaking up and whistleblowing are all familiar terms used to describe the reporting of anything that causes actual or potential risks to the provision of patient care. It can also be about other issues which may impact on wider NHS services, other staff and/or the reputation of the organisation. This can be fraudulent activity or a lack of response or cover up of issues being raised.
When things go wrong, it is important that there is opportunity for workers to discuss these issues, reflect on what happened, and learn from experiences and to be part of any discussion about what needs to happen to prevent future risk of harm.
Different people or organisations may use a variety of terms (as outlined above) to describe the reporting of concerns, but they all mean the same thing. Some people may interpret all or some of these actions as "whistleblowing", others may only associate whistleblowing with something that is formally escalated outside an organisation, or to describe the legal protections offered to individuals raising concerns under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
How you raise these issues may be different, depending on local arrangements and will be dependent on how serious the issue is. Most concerns can be raised by having a discussion with your line manager or one of the Freedom to Speak Up (FtSU) Champion, FtSU Guardian or your Trade Union representative, or a representative from your professional body. They may also be raised with a regulatory body such as the Care Quality Commission.
All NHS trusts should have a policy and arrangements in place to support workers to speak up and raise issues; we have these steps in place at the trust. This includes all healthcare professionals, non-clinical staff, senior, middle and junior managers, volunteers, students, bank and temporary workers such as agency workers and contractors, and former employees.
As an employer, we have a duty to make sure that these arrangements are well communicated and understood by our workforce. We are committed to publishing arrangements on the staff intranet. This helps us to communicate the organisation's commitment to being open and transparent about its processes. It also ensures all workers can find information easily when they need it.
There are other routes for patients and their families to raise matters of concern such as the Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS).
Organisations should outline arrangements for temporary workers in any contractual agreement they may have with an agency or contractor. This can be done in one of two ways:
- By establishing that the agency/contractor has their own effective arrangements in place to support and respond to concerns or
- By agreeing that the agency/contractor promotes the organisation's own arrangements, where there are any concerns which relate to a threat or risk to the services, care and/or reputation of the organisation.
Managers are recommended as the first port of call for staff to raise any concerns they may have. Managers therefore have a critical role to play in effecting a positive and responsive reporting culture. Without their support and involvement, it will be challenging to keep the arrangements alive across the organisation.
View our manager's guide to raising concerns. This can support managers to hold open conversations about raising concerns.
The Chief People Officer is the executive lead for this programme of work. The role of the Freedom to Speak up Guardian is an independent role from the day to day work of the HR department.
On occasion, and with the permission of the member of staff raising the concern, the matter may need a further review or final investigation through the Human Resources department, so that appropriate, formal resolution can be sought.
If your concern is a personal complaint about your own employment situation, rather than a concern about patient or staff safety or wrong doing. If you do have a personal complaint and you are unable to resolve this informally with your local line management, then you may wish to raise a grievance, through the trust’s formal process. If you are unsure, please contact an Freedom to Speak Up Champion, the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, or the Human Resources department.
Your identity and your discussion with the FtSU Champion or Guardian will be kept confidential, unless and until it is necessary to reveal this information, if you chose that the information you have given should progress along a formal route, then your identity will be required and disclosed.
You will always be in control of whether your concern remains confidential. Confidentiality is however not upheld if the concern raised is a matter of fraud, child or adult safeguarding, or illegal activity.
The Speaking Up Support scheme, is a national initiative and provides a range of support for past and present NHS workers who have experienced a significant, adverse impact on both their professional and personal lives, to move forward, following a formal speak up process.
The scheme, formerly known as the Whistleblowers' support scheme, was created in 2019 as a response to the recommendations from the 2015 Freedom to Speak Up report. This report was born from the Mid-Staffordshire enquiry into malpractice. The support scheme has subsequently been revised based on learning from previous iterations of the support scheme.
For more information, please visit the NHS England webpage.
Who are your Speak Up Champions?
Joanna Bainbridge
Freedom to speak up Guardian
Joanna.
07903 236027
Heather Moulder
Non-executive director for Freedom to Speak Up
h.
07481765165
Tracey Curran
Midwife
tracy.
Sarah Puntis
Digital midwife
sarah.
Tel: 07388 377 814
Patrizia Brown
ADM, Paediatrics
Hemel Hempstead
patrizia.
Tara McAleavy
Colposcopy Clinic Co-ordinator
tara.
Tel: 01923 217742
Alison East
Deputy Head of Nursing Surgery Anaesthetics & Cancer
alisoneast
Tel: 07771 500781
Paula King
Head of nursing
paula.
Tel: 07795 398 759
John Joy
john.
Tel: 07866 115641
Sylwia Banaczyk
Advance theatre practitioner for urology, ENT & breast
Tel: 01923217122
Deborah Johns
CEPOD coordinator
deborah.
Tel: 01923 217122
Kamaljot Kaur
Staff nurse
kamaljot.
Tel: 07404408525
Regla Rodriguez
Junior sister, ICU, Watford
regla.
Tel: 07823848854
Penny Colston
Practice development nurse
p.
Tel: 07780 339468
Mr Sherif Monib
Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon
sherif.
Tel: 07780 339468
Howard Borkett-Jones
A&E consultant
howard.
Jo Sparrow
Senior Sister (HHH)
joanne.
Tel: 01442 287680
Callum Dean
Programme Manager
callumdean
Tel: 07435 554076
Uchenna Anozie
Registered nurse, Gade Ward
uchenna.
Tel: 07765722887
Alfred Mwangi
Staff Nurse, AAU level 1
alfred.
Tel: 07442266477
Isabella Poku
Senior sister
isabella.
Tel: 01923 218 671
Fran Regal
Lead Resuscitation Officer
Frances.
Tel: 01923 217218 bleep 1448
Hardeep Singh
Senior charge nurse
hardeep.singh1@nhs.net
Karolina Stawarz
Registered Nurse Degree Apprentice
karolina.
Tel: 07743601317
Keshav Velip
Registered nurse, Band 5
keshav.
Tel: 07440710415
Megan Ballin
Staff nurse
keshav.
Tel: 07508176224
Earl Llamas
Senior Charge Nurse
e.
Tel: 07949976112
Sarah McLoughlin
Risk and governance manager
sarah.
Tel: 07919 485320
Darryl Harber
Facilities Operations Manager - St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Jacketts Field
darryl.
Tel: 07423 331711
Pauline O'Connor
Executive Assistant
pauline.o'connor1@nhs.net
Tel: 07984 938987
Rebecca Kiff
Compliance Administrator
rebecca.
Ext: 8379
Alice Balaican
Clinical Research Nurse
alice-mihaela.
Tel: ext. 3344
Vishali Patel
Senior project manager
vishali.
Tel: 01923 436732
Jill Dodge
Maternity IT Support Officer, Clinical Applications
j.
Tel: 07977 791640
Beatrice Ogunnoiki
RTT Data Tracker
beatrice.
Tel: 07921456631
Ginny Edwards
Volunteer
ginny.
Tel: 07771 980847
Isabella De-Rosa
Executive assistant, UK NEQAS
isabella.
Tel: 01923 587123
Yvonne Hector
UK NEQAS, haematology service manager
y.
Tel: 01923 587111
Jayna Hirani
Senior clinical pharmacist
jayna.
Tel: 01923 217853
Sarah Efthymiou
Lead radiographer
sarah.
Tel: 01923 438445
Nimita Shah
Senior clinical pharmacist (EPMA)
nimita.
Tel: 01923 217853
Rugova Ahmetaj
AHP Support Workforce Lead -Therapy Assistant Practioner in Orthopaedics
rugova.
Tel: 01923 217271