Whistleblowing procedures are “inconsistently followed”

Whistleblowing procedures at Shropshire’s main hospital trust are “inconsistently followed”, and some low-level safety incidents are thought not worth reporting at all, according to a report.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust “Freedom to Speak Up Guardian” Kate Adney writes the “incident reporting is thought not to be taken seriously unless there is an element of severe or moderate harm”.

Those who raise concerns often do not receive any updates on case, she adds, pointing out that one worker requested feedback eight times but has heard nothing.

In a report, due to go before the SaTH board, she warns the trust could be failing four out of 13 of the national standards that emerged from a review last year.

Under the first, titled “Speaking up culture”, she writes: “It has been reported to the FTSU Guardians that colleagues have been told not to raise concerns via incident reporting and, when they have, these have not been acted upon in an appropriate and timely manner.”

Ms Adney says “incident reporting is thought not to be taken seriously unless there is an element of severe or moderate harm”, and less serious incidents are seen as unlikely to be acted upon.

Under another area, titled “Failure to respond to speaking up”, Ms Adney writes: “When colleagues speak up, they should be thanked and then their concerns should be looking into in a timely manner, with feedback, as per the FTSU policy which was updated in April 2019.”

She adds that there is a trust-wide policy that handles onward referral and incident reporting, but “there is inconsistency in how this process is followed and there is evidence there is not a consistent approach to responding to those colleagues that have raised concerns.”

She adds: “Incident reporting feedback is poor. This causes anxiety for colleagues who have raised concerns and wonder whether their incident report has even been taken seriously or noted.

“One colleagues said that they had put in eight incident reports on the same issue and has requested feedback and never heard back.”

The other two areas are titled “Measuring the effectiveness of speaking up” and “Issues raised by workers not handled with suitable independence”.

Ms Adney recommends that SaTH put “suitably trained investigation officers” in place and review the investigation process within three months and review incident reporting rates and identify areas of chronic under-reporting within six months.

SaTH manages the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital. Its Trust Board is due to meet tomorrow.