Freedom to speak up

Speaking up is about anything which gets in the way of providing good care.

Speak up – we will listen

Here at Benenden Hospital we believe that speaking up about concerns our staff have is vital. We want our staff to feel supported at work and ultimately ensure that we are providing excellent care to our patients.

When things go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt, and things are improved. If we think something might go wrong, it’s important that we all feel able to speak up to stop potential harm.

Even when things are good, but could be even better, we should feel able to say something and be confident that our suggestion will be used as an opportunity for improvement.

We are committed to an open and honest culture at Benenden Hospital and will ensure that the concerns of our staff are looked into and that they are offered and have access to the support they need.

Examples of concerns

Staff can raise concerns about risk, malpractice or wrongdoing that they think could harm our patients, such as:

Unsafe patient care
Unsafe working conditions
Inadequate induction or training for staff
Lack of, or poor response to a reported patient safety incident
Suspicions of fraud (which can also be reported to our local counter fraud team)
A bullying culture

Feeling safe when raising concerns

It’s important to emphasise that staff will not be penalised for raising concerns; they will not lose their job or suffer any form of reprisal. We will not tolerate the harassment or bullying of anyone raising a concern. Nor will we tolerate any attempt to bully anyone into not raising a concern. Any such behaviour is a breach of our values and, if upheld following investigation, could result in disciplinary action.

Raising concerns confidentiality or anonymously

Staff are able to raise their concern confidentially (which means that only the person to whom the concern is raised will know their name) or anonymously, without giving anyone their name.

Freedom to Speak up Guardian

Our Freedom to speak up Guardian is Louise King.

The Guardian role means that in addition to other identified ways to raise concerns, staff have access to an independent and impartial source of advice at any stage of raising a concern. Staff will be offered the necessary guidance and support and kept updated as to what is happening with their concern.