Freedom to Speak Up Guardian

We have a great opportunity for a freedom to speak up guardian. Do you have the openness, excellence, and compassion to underpin our speak up and listen culture. Are you passionate about people having a voice, are you committed to creating an environment where everyone feels confident and feel safe to speak up.

You will also need to show that everyone’s voice matters, dentifying the barriers to speaking up that people encounter and working with them to overcome them. You will need to show that you value what you are told, by thanking people and sharing updates on the actions you have taken.

If these are your values then we are looking for someone who can provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information, confer with senior leaders on difficult issues, and present complex and sensitive information to senior management.

Freedom to speak up is about anything that gets in the way of us providing Exceptional Care Together. Our values of openness, excellence, and compassion underpin our approach to Freedom to Speak Up and we are committed to fostering a speak up/listen up/follow up culture. The Freedom to Speak Up Guardian (FTSUG) is an independent and influential role helping to protect patient safety and quality of care, improve the working experience of colleagues and promote learning and improvement. The post works alongside the Trust leadership teams to support the organisation’s continuing aim to foster a speak up/listen up/follow up culture where all colleagues are supported to speak up and know that they will be valued for doing so.

Working in partnership with individuals and groups within the organisation including the Board, Chief Executive, Non
- Executive Directors and Executive team, the Guardian will support colleagues to speak up and leaders to identify learning and improvements in response to the matters spoken up about. Through their actions and behaviour acting as the independent impartial advisor on matters relating to speaking up the Guardian will hold a reputation for being a highly credible and knowledgeable expert who has the personal and organisational authority to challenge and address poor practice in relation to speaking up/listening up.

Northampton General Hospital is one of the largest employers in the area and we are on an exciting journey. All of our divisions are committed to doing things better, with more efficiency as we update, modernise, and advance. We have also entered into a Group Model with neighbouring Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and become University Hospitals of Northamptonshire.

Our Excellence Values
- Compassion
- Accountability
- Respect
- Integrity
- Courage

We want to recruit the best people to deliver our services across the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire and help to unleash everyone’s full potential. As an organisation, we value how we communicate and promote our vacancies to all communities.

We understand that we need to work with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and make sure the environment they work in is inclusive and collaborative.

We have active Networks that promote and support colleagues from all backgrounds. This ensures everyone feels supported and has a sense of belonging working for Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals.

A large part of the duties will include listening and supporting staff who want to speak up through the FTSU Guardian route. The Guardian will triage the matters spoken up about.

Ensure that highly sensitive or contentious information is presented to the appropriate leader/manager. Feedback to the managers/leaders response to those speaking up. Hold managers/leaders to account and escalate to more senior managers if assessed appropriate. Support the manager/leader in identifying resulting learning and learning that is transferable across the organisation.

Ensure feedback is sought from everyone who is supported via FTSU and use this feedback to inform future service development.

Offer confidential support and advice to individuals raising issues or concerns of any nature, which may include highly complex and sensitive/distressing information. Using advanced communication and listening skills to build rapport will be key to ensuring that the person raising concerns is provided with regular updates, investigations are progressed, and recommendations are implemented. The post holder will also be responsible for escalation of issues as appropriate and challenging areas of ongoing concern.

To work collaboratively with the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Team and the Trust management board to support the organisation in becoming an open and transparent place to work, where all staff are actively encouraged and enabled to speak up safely.

Analyse highly complex organisational data, e.g. staff engagement surveys, staff turnover/sickness information, to identify and take action to remove/reduce barriers to speaking up across the organisation.

Undertake regular feed