Policy Purpose
Coast Medic is committed to providing outstanding patient care, whilst always maintaining a culture of integrity and accountability.
We recognise and understand that speaking up about any concern is essential to helping us to improve our services for all patients and our staff. It is also recognised that staff may feel worried about raising a concern. As an organisation we are committed to ensuring that staff and volunteers are not put off raising a concern.
In accordance with our duty of candour policy, our senior leaders and entire management team are committed to an open and honest culture and have a duty to investigate any concerns that are raised, whilst supporting staff.
This policy is considered a live document and will be updated and changed to reflect the current practices of the organisation. This document is also subsidised by additional supporting documents which will also be updated as required in line with this policy to ensure currency and accuracy within current standards.
Policy Scope
This policy applies to all staff, volunteers, contractors and others who are involved with Coast Medic. This encompasses staff who are contracted from other organisations to provide services on behalf of Coast Medic.
What concerns can I raise?
Any staff or volunteers can raise a concern about risk, malpractice or wrongdoing you think is harming the service we deliver at Coast Medic. Just a few examples of this might include (but are by no means restricted to):
- 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
- A bullying culture (across a team or organisation rather than individual instances of bullying).
Remember that if you are a healthcare professional you may have a professional duty to report a concern. If in doubt, please raise it.
Don’t wait for proof. We would like you to raise the matter while it is still a concern. It doesn’t matter if you turn out to be mistaken as long as you are genuinely troubled.
This policy is not for people with concerns about their work or volunteering that affect only them – these type of concerns are better suited to our grievance policy.
Feel safe to raise your concerns
If you raise a genuine concern under this policy, you will not be at risk of losing your role as staff or a volunteer or suffering any form of reprisal as a result. We will not tolerate the harassment or victimisation of anyone raising a concern. Nor will we tolerate any attempt to bully you into not raising any such concern. Any such behaviour is a breach of our values as an organisation and, if upheld following investigation, could result in disciplinary action.
Provided you are acting honestly, it does not matter if you are mistaken or if there is an innocent explanation for your concerns.
Confidentiality
We hope you will feel comfortable raising your concern openly, but we also appreciate that you may want to raise it confidentially. This means that while you are willing for your identity to be known to the person you report your concern to, you do not want anyone else to know your identity.
Therefore, we will keep your identity confidential, if that is what you want, unless required to disclose it by law (for example, by the police). You can choose to raise your concern anonymously, without giving anyone your name, but that may make it more difficult for us to investigate thoroughly and give you feedback on the outcome.
Who can raise concerns?
Anyone who works or volunteers (or has worked or volunteered) for Coast Medic, or for a contractor who provides services on behalf of Coast Medic can raise concerns. This includes agency workers, temporary workers, students and volunteers.
Who should I raise my concern with?
In many circumstances the easiest way to get your concern resolved will be to raise it formally or informally with your line manager (or another appropriate manager), but where you don’t think it is appropriate to do this, you can use any of the options set out below in the first instance.
If raising it with your line manager (or another appropriate manager), does not resolve matters, or you do not feel able to raise it with them, you can contact one of the following people:
- HR
- Chief Executive
All these people will give you information about where you can go for more support if required. If for any reason you do not feel comfortable raising your concern internally, you can raise concerns with external bodies.
Advice & Support
Details on the local support available to you can be obtained from your line manager. However, you can also contact your professional body if applicable or trade union representative.
How should I raise my concern?
You can raise your concerns using the incident module of salus3cloud, or with any of the people listed above in person, by phone or in writing (including email). Whichever route you choose, please be ready to explain as fully as you can the information and circumstances that gave rise to your concern.
Email: hr@coastmedic.org.uk
What will we do?
We are committed to listening to our staff, learning lessons and improving patient care. On receipt the concern will be recorded and you will receive an acknowledgement within two working days. The central record will record the date the concern was received, whether you have requested confidentiality, a summary of the concerns and dates when we have given you updates or feedback.
Investigation
Where you have been unable to resolve the matter quickly (usually within a few days) with your line manager, we will carry out a proportionate investigation – using someone suitably independent (usually from a different part of the organisation) and properly trained – and we will reach a conclusion within a reasonable timescale (which we will notify you of). Wherever possible we will carry out a single investigation (so, for example, where a concern is raised about a patient safety incident, we will usually undertake a single investigation that looks at your concern and the wider circumstances of the incident). The investigation will be objective and evidence-based and will produce a report that focuses on identifying and rectifying any issues and learning lessons to prevent problems recurring.
We may decide that your concern would be better looked at under another process; for example, our process for dealing with bullying and harassment. If so, we will discuss that with you.
Any staff or volunteering issues (that affect only you and not others) identified during the investigation will be considered separately.
Communicating with you
We will treat you with respect at all times and will thank you for raising your concerns. We will discuss your concerns with you to ensure we understand exactly what you are worried about. We will tell you how long we expect the investigation to take and keep you up to date with its progress.
Wherever possible, we will share the full investigation report with you (while respecting the confidentiality of others).
How will we learn from your concern?
The focus of the investigation will be on improving the service we provide for patients. Where it identifies improvements that can be made, we will track them to ensure necessary changes are made and are working effectively. Lessons will be shared with teams across the organisation, or more widely, as appropriate.
Senior Management Team Oversight
The Senior Management Team will be given high level information about all concerns raised by our staff through this policy and what we are doing to address any problems. We will include similar high-level information in our annual report. The Senior Management Team supports staff raising concerns and wants you to feel free to speak up.
Policy Review
We will review the effectiveness of this policy and local process, with the outcome published and changes made as appropriate.
Raising your concern with an outside body
Alternatively, you can raise your concern outside the organisation with: Care Quality Commission for quality and safety concerns.
Appendix A: Process for raising and escalating a concern
Step One
If you have a concern about a risk, malpractice or wrongdoing at work, we hope you will feel able to raise it first with your line manager, lead clinician or another appropriate manager. This may be done orally or in writing.
Step Two
If you feel unable to raise the matter with your line manager, lead clinician or an appropriate manager within Coast Medic. These persons have been given special responsibility and training in dealing with whistleblowing concerns.
- Human Resources via email hr@coastmedic.org.uk
- Chief Executive: ceo@coastmedic.org.uk
They Will:
- Treat your concern confidentially unless otherwise agreed.
- Ensure you receive timely support to progress your concern
- Escalate to senior management team any indications that you are being subjected to detriment for raising your concern
- Remind the organisation of the need to give you timely feedback on how your concern is being dealt with
- Ensure you have access to personal support since raising your concern may be stressful.
If you want to raise the matter in confidence, please say so at the outset so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Step Three
If these channels have been followed and you still have concerns, or if you feel that the matter is so serious that you cannot discuss it with any of the above, please contact:
Coast Medic, Board of Trustees: trustees@coastmedic.org.uk
Step Four
You can raise concerns formally with external bodies which have been provided