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Students’ views should be valued and respected, says Stuart Poynor
The Francis report has presented NHS organisations with opportunity to challenge themselves honestly about how openly staff can raise concerns.
As the leader of a large health and social care trust, championing the importance of raising concerns is at the forefront of my work. Across the NHS we need to ensure there is greater
support and more opportunities available for frontline staff to be listened to and their concerns given time and consideration.
At the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust, I have introduced the role of ambassador for cultural change and appointed former Stafford Hospital accident and emergency nurse
Helene Donnelly to the post. Ms Donnelly has an autonomous role, supported by the trust’s executive management team and board, to bring any issues raised by staff directly to the attention
of senior managers.
“No one in an NHS leadership role should be afraid of challenge from inexperienced eyes”
People who use our services rightly expect the NHS to listen and have an established, easy-to-access and effective system for any employee to raise a concern.
The views and experiences of all staff, including the newly qualified and students in training, should be valued and respected. I wonder if all NHS leaders are confident that this is the
case. We need to examine our reactions when someone with little experience questions the actions or behaviours of more experienced staff. I would hope that I and others would be able to
welcome this and make time to deal with it.
We should encourage a culture of constructive enquiry across the board. Who knows when an issue may arise? It may be the first day in your job. If you saw a problem, wouldn’t a patient or
family want you to speak up, whatever your position?
Students and newly qualified staff offer a valuable fresh perspective. Everyone giving care should be entitled to an equal voice and opinion - and an equal responsibility to raise any
patient safety concern.
Recently, a student nurse told me of her frustration following an incident where a patient had experienced avoidable harm. She felt she had experienced negative attitudes and resistance when
trying to find out what had happened because she was a student. Her concerns were not valued or acted on and she was to some degree “put in her place” by a senior colleague.
It cannot be right that talented, enthusiastic and energetic staff feel they have no voice until they have decades of experience. I have seen qualities that convince me we have talented,
caring student nurses who will be future NHS leaders.
The ambassador role is helping to shine a light on issues in our organisation and outside. We try to offer advice and suggest organisations that can support and help.
Personally, I am committed to seeking out the views of newly qualified staff. I am keen to understand why they joined us, and what their expectations and ambitions are so we can learn from
them. New recruits, including students, are often less constrained, more imaginative and energetic and often have great freedom of thought, which is a valuable resource.
We have recently launched an in-house skills academy to “grow our own” support workers who will achieve a formal apprenticeship qualification as well as learning how to put our values into
action.
No one in an NHS leadership role should be afraid of challenge from inexperienced eyes. We should seek out views and listen. I have several times met inexperienced staff who have asked
exactly the right questions and identified solutions.
It is our responsibility as today’s leaders to support students coming into caring professions and display a caring, listening and supportive culture ourselves.
Stuart Poynor is chief executive of Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust