Sue and Sara's keeping in touch blog - issue 13

Read the latest blog from Chair Professor Sue Proctor and Chief Exec Dr Sara Munro

This week from June 22 – 26th  is Safeguarding Week.

In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Safeguarding Week 2020 will be very different. Our Safeguarding Team will be using social media and our websites to highlight real and important safeguarding matters which affect communities and individuals across Leeds and York. Please do contact them if you want to learn more.

Despite the ‘new normal’ of life with Covid-19, colleagues from different sectors, agencies and professions; those who work with children and young people, and those who work with adults and communities; all those who work across Leeds and York will have planned an exciting, informative and inspiring series of promotions and campaigns. Safeguarding, however, is everybody’s business.

A few years ago as part of a major review of safeguarding in the NHS we reviewed the literature on what Boards can do to make their organisations and their staff safer. Recognising we don’t live in a perfect world where harm and risk can be totally removed, it was clear that certain characteristics of Boards in health care organisations are associated with being safer:

  • Strong , visible, credible and accessible leaders;
  • Clearly defined and commonly agreed Trust values and behaviours;
  • Clear accountability for the safeguarding of children, young people, adults and older adults;
  • Leadership that fosters curiosity, scrutiny and constructive challenge;
  • Coherence and connection between the Board and ‘frontline’ services;
  • Effective and well understood policies for staff and others to raise concerns;
  • Robust employment and governance systems;
  • Effective training, induction, appraisal and review processes; and
  • Zero tolerance of the abuse, harassment or victimisation of staff or patients.

Our Board is committed to these principles and working with staff, governors, partners and service users to support safeguarding practice across all our services.

This week the Board will meet via Zoom to discuss our ongoing response to the pandemic, and also the performance of all our services. We look forward to hearing from Carla Rogers, Sister on Ward 2 at The Mount, talking about her and her colleagues’ experience of Covid-19. We aim to take stock of what we have learnt over the last 3 months, what has worked, what we want to continue, and also what hasn’t gone well and where we need to improve.

As part of the cultural collaborative work across the Trust, we would like all our staff to take part in this conversation. Using the ‘Your Voice Counts’ platform, please tell us what has worked well for you at work during the pandemic, what went less well, what your concerns are, and what has made you proud.  It is so important that we learn from this unusual time and embed real and positive change in our services and systems. Look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great week.

Sue and Sara