STAFF at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) are not afraid to have their say.
SWFT – which runs hospitals in Warwick, Stratford, Leamington and Shipston – has ranked in the top 10 NHS trusts in the country for having an excellent speaking up culture.
SWFT, which in December was awarded ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), prides itself on providing first class care by creating a safe environment for staff to develop and learn, to raise concerns and implement changes.
Working with NHS England, the National Guardian’s Office uses four questions from the national survey to create a Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Index.
These questions address whether staff feel knowledgeable, secure and encouraged to speak up and whether they would be treated fairly after an incident.
The FTSU Index results placed SWFT as one of the best healthcare trusts nationally for staff responses to these questions.
The national average FTSU Index score was 78.7 per cent with SWFT scoring 84.3 per cent.
SWFT also scored one of the highest organisations for providing a safe environment against violence, with 9.7 out of 10, and bullying and harassment, with 8.6/10.
SWFT scored 7.1/10 in the safety culture theme with staff stating that compared to previous years they received more feedback, felt safer raising concerns and confident concerns would be addressed with the appropriate changes made. The national average was 6.8.
SWFT HR director Ann Pope said: “As an organisation we understand the significant link between an excellent speak up culture and a happy and successful workforce. It is encouraging to see our organisation rank highly in this index.
“At SWFT we are constantly looking for new ways to improve staff and patient experience. We will continue to encourage all employees to reflect on the speak up culture within their own teams, to help us further increase speaking up activity within the Trust and to ensure we continue to provide ‘outstanding’ care to our community.”
