QA Hospital appoints new speak up guardian to encourage open culture for staff raising concerns

QUEEN Alexandra Hospital is encouraging its staff to speak out and raise concerns with the appointment of a new Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.
Jenny Michael is the new Speak Up Guardian at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham    

Picture: Malcolm WellsJenny Michael is the new Speak Up Guardian at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham    

Picture: Malcolm Wells
Jenny Michael is the new Speak Up Guardian at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham Picture: Malcolm Wells

Jenny Michael took over the role earlier this year to enable employees across the Cosham site to raise any problems from health and safety issues to inappropriate behaviour.

It offers an opportunity for staff at all levels to raise concerns.

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The role was originally launched in 2013 and Jenny, who is also the health and safety advisor at QA, said it was something she was passionate about.

The 46-year-old said: ‘For me, it is about being a point of contact and being someone who is approachable and visible to staff.

‘I am really passionate about the role, I have spent most of my life in Portsmouth and 15 years at QA and I know staff work really hard.

‘In any hospital, mistakes happen and we want to learn from them. We want to develop a “no blame” culture and for people to be confident in raising concerns.

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‘Sometimes it can be difficult to raise a problem with a direct manager so I am there to support them through that process.

‘It can be patient safety, a process we have, a health and safety issue, the working environment or a behavioural issue.’

As previously reported in The News, when an inspector from health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) went to visit QA Hospital early last year they found nurses and clinical staff felt like they could not make complaints or raise problems.

Jenny said her role was important to ensuring a more open culture and she had a lot of support from the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust board and chief executive Mark Cubbon.

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She added: ‘This role is really vital. The only way we can change the culture within an organisation is if staff feel their concerns are listened to and there are positive outcomes.

‘I report to the trust board and to the chief executive and he is very keen to improve on the whole working culture.

‘He understands the challenges people face sometimes in raising concerns.’

Jenny said people used to refer to people raising concerns as whistleblowing and would be worried what affect speaking up could have on their future career or daily working life.

‘The whole process of having a guardian is to prevent those issues and offer support,’ she said.

‘So far I have had a good response.’