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Freedom to speak up experience (NHS)

5 replies

tostaky · 11/11/2022 12:18

New role in the NHS, never worked in the NHS before.
I still havent got a laptop or a login so I sat in the admin team office in the morning to do my statutory training online on a hot desk. I am in a clinical role as a trainee, 1st day. The service manager (who is also a clinical professionnal) at some point during the day shouted at one admin team for a mistake she made a few weeks after she started (a month ago). It didn't seem so bad but she really had a go at her and threatened her that if she was going to make the same mistake, she would give her a disciplinary warning. Everybody silently stared at their screen until the manager went, the young admin then left the room crying and everybody was shocked and apologised that i should see that on my first day and it is never so bad and the manager must be hormonal (WTF?) and so on. the admin team was very supportive of the young admin and they encourage her to report it but she did not want to "make things worse". Funnily enough this happened when i was completing my "freedom to speak up" training....

I want to report the incident but i have no clue as if it was a one off or not and i am aware that the atmosphere is going to be awful if an investigation is going to be opened. Also this manager has started this role recently and there is a big problem is recruitment so i am thinking she may get a disciplinary warning herself to still stay in the clinic.
Any experience of outcome after a freedom to speak disclosure? or what would you do?

OP posts:
America12 · 11/11/2022 12:34

Our team have used it a couple of times due to our manager. NOTHING was done. Absolute chocolate teapot service to tick boxes I'm afraid.

Motnight · 11/11/2022 12:37

A colleague of mine went through the Freedom to Speak Guardian.
Nothing came out of it at all apart from some pointless conversations. When he contacted the Guardian again she basically told him to leave her alone 😂

Battlecat98 · 11/11/2022 12:55

Honestly this is the truth of working in the NHS. They spout about our duty to speak up and how they don't tolerate abuse/bullying etc. I have recently contacted the freedom guardian I am an NHS ward manager, I had already gone through the correct channels to no avail. However it took the freedom guardians 3 weeks to email me back. I didn't bother responding at that point.

Awful behaviour goes on in the NHS with staff bullying/intimidation, managers are aware but do nothing at all.
We have a member of staff who swears at us and walks of shifts if he feels like it, I have explained how intimidating I find him, senior manager just said it's just his manly ways 😲. If a patient complains though that is completely different and we are always treated as if we have done wrong.

Sometimes the bullying is less obvious but it's the same people, in fact the person I raised concerns about has been promoted into a very senior position. They are very much a bully and belittle people.

Sorry I went of tangent but it seems in your situation the person is know to be like this so nothing will happen. Just wanted to add some context as you are new to the NHS.

IamlividandfumingIam · 11/11/2022 13:02

I've used it, they don't do anything. One of Jeremy Hunt's tickboxes unfortunately. Culture has not changed.

Sparkletastic · 11/11/2022 13:18

It works really well in my organisation. We taking speaking up very seriously and have a variety of ways to do it.

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