Speak Up – Your Voice Matters

Every NHS organisation has a Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Guardian. They are appointed individuals who work independently and have a key role in helping to enable a positive speaking up culture in their organisation. They can provide advice and support to staff in relation to concerns they may have. At SaTH we have 2 x FTSU Guardians their contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.

Freedom to Speak Up is for anyone who works in health. This includes any healthcare professionals, non-clinical workers, senior, middle, and junior managers, volunteers, students, locum, bank and agency workers, and former employees.

Patients and their families who have concerns or suggestions for improvement, should contact

Patient and Liaison Service (PALS)

Most speaking up happens through conversations with supervisors and line managers where challenges are raised and resolved quickly. We strive for a culture where that is normal, everyday practice and encourage you to explore this option – it may well be the easiest and simplest way of resolving matters

You may be worried about raising a concern, and we understand this. But please don’t be put off. Our senior leaders and entire board are committed to an open and honest culture.

You can raise a concern about anything that gets in the way of you doing a great job, for example:

• 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: Davies@miaa.nhs.uk 07584 774763/0151 285 4500)

Remember if you are a healthcare professional you may have a professional duty to report a concern. If in doubt, please do raise it as soon as possible.

If you have a concern about your employment that affects only you, this type of concern maybe better suited to looking at through another policy.

Initially, concerns are best raised with your line manager or a senior member of staff but there are many routes at SaTH for raising concerns or seeking support. These can found on the SaTH FTSU intranet page in the Freedom to Speak Up policy.

To raise a concern with the FTSU Guardians please contact

Helen.Turner51@nhs.net 07596 318482

Chan.Kaur@nhs.net 07773 976983

sath.ftsu@nhs.net