“An open culture in which patient safety is paramount”, is aim of new ‘Speaking Up’ charter

Supporting people who raise safety concerns in the public interest, and working together to affect a difference in NHS culture is the aim of a new charter.

The Speaking Up charter has been signed by twenty-eight organisations, recognising their separate but linked responsibilities for key aspects of the provision and regulation of care, or for supporting members to provide high quality, safe care.

The charter has been developed to help remove barriers that prevent staff from reporting concerns or safety issues and is one of the outcomes of a May 2012 whistle-blowing summit.

Its key purpose is to ‘recognise that in order to enable a cultural shift in the NHS, it is vital that leadership comes from national organisations to promote a culture in the NHS where staff can report concerns with confidence.’

The key principles of the Speaking Up charter are:

• Safety should be at the heart of all care and is the responsibility of everyone involved in the provision of health and social care services.

• Ensuring all individuals are treated in a service which is open to feedback, and encourages as well as supports its staff to raise concerns.

• Staff engagement in the development and delivery of our services is fundamental.

• Registered health and social care workers have a duty to follow their professional codes of conduct, but equally organisations are encouraged to develop their own statement of values for all staff.

• Individuals should always feel free to raise concerns through local processes and be supported to do so.

• Policies should be developed and continuously promoted.

• Compromise agreements containing clauses seeking to prevent disclosures protected under the PIDA 1998 are not acceptable.

• Adequate training and support is provided for managers so that they understand their role and responsibilities in handling concerns raised with them and are able to respond appropriately.

Organisations who have pledged their support include the chief executives of Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), General Dental Council (GDC), General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), General Optical Council (GOC) and the General Medical Council (GMC).

In a joint letter they said: “We will continue to remind healthcare professionals of their duty to raise concerns and encourage them to do so where patient safety is at risk, working with healthcare organisations to foster an open culture in which patient safety is paramount”.

David Behan, chief executive of Care Quality Commission said: “The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is committed to helping foster and create an open and transparent culture for those who ‘speak out’ in the health and social care sectors. We welcome wholeheartedly this charter.

“However charters are of limited value unless they are promoted and championed by leaders in health and social care. It is important that leaders listen and act on information that they receive from those who speak out about issues of safety of services.”

The NCF, (National Care Forum) welcomes the charter for creating an open culture for reporting concerns.

Des Kelly OBE, NCF executive director said: “Encouraging people to speak out about concerns is fundamental to the delivery of quality care services. A commitment to openness to help increase public understanding and trust has been a key requirement of the NCF Quality First framework, since it was introduced in 2010.

“All NCF members are encouraged to endorse Quality First through an explicit public statement signed by both their chair and chief executive. The principles underpinning a culture which promotes openness and transparency, fairness and learning is therefore fully supported by the NCF.”

“The NCF looks forward to working with the CQC (and others) to demonstrate the value of a “just culture” in which the behaviour of care providers, inspectors, commissioners and other key stakeholders is the evidence that these principles are making a real difference to quality of care.”