Evidence of change at NHS Highland ‘is still needed’

More than 200 financial payouts have been made so far as part of NHS Highland’s healing process.

But progress towards a positive workplace culture has been limited with the need for a clearer vision, authentic feedback and real evidence of positive change on the ground – The Oban Times has been told by an anonymous employee.

According to the source there have been ‘lots of platitudes but little substance’.

‘The Healing Process is making very slow progress, despite reassurances to the NHS Highland (NHSH) board. It’s been two-and-a-half years since the first Sturrock action plan was produced and very little has altered on the ground. Sound bites in board papers don’t make for tangible change.

‘The Culture Programme aims to deal with some people process issues, but does nothing to address the values and behaviours demonstrated by senior HR staff over the years; several were named within participants’ personal statements as having supported the prevailing toxic culture and actually contributed harm to staff. These senior staff need to be the subject of an investigation,’ they said.

In an update at the start of this year from NHSH’s director of people and culture, Fiona Hogg, she says 103 apologies written personally by its chief executive have also been made to those harmed by experiences of bullying and inappropriate behaviour while working at NHS Highland.

At the time of her update, there were 283 active participants going through the healing process.

‘We’ve supported healing through our partner Validium, including delivery of 233 assessments, 47 support calls,

and with tailored psychological therapies authorised for 172 current and former colleagues,’ she said adding: ‘We also provided 103 apologies which are personally written by our chief executive and 203 financial payments have been made up so far, with 237 people having an outcome from the process, with a further 46 still in progress.’

Three organisational learning reports have been provided by an independent review panel, which have been reported to the board and progress is being tracked on the actions.

NHSH’s 24/7 Independent Speak Up Guardian service supported 195 colleagues from December 2020 to November 2021 and is also supporting the administration and reporting of the Whistleblowing Standards, launched in April.

The 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, run by Validium, engaged with 169 staff between January and October 2021, for counselling, advice and support.

‘These confidential and easyto-access services have been well received and complement our other routes to raise concerns and be supported,’ said Ms Hogg.

As part of a listening and learning survey, more than 4,200 colleagues responded with 16,000 individual comments to be analysed.

‘We’re now working on what our colleagues told us. Listening needs to be always on, so we are following that up with executive visits to key locations – in December we managed a number of face-toface sessions, including Fort William, Wick and Thurso,’ Ms Hogg said.

Priorities for this year are the wellbeing plan and rolling out Civility Saves Lives, along with work on diversity and inclusion and performance management.

‘So it will be another busy year ahead, building on the progress made in 2021,’ she added.

Speaking to The Oban Times, the source said: ‘In summary, progress towards a positive workplace culture has been limited over the past 2.5 years. Everyone would benefit from a clearer vision, authentic feedback and real evidence of positive change on the ground.’

A culture programme report to the NHS board on Monday January 24 flagged up that some of its work was on an amber alert – including developing the culture dashboard that would help identify any areas or departments that may need support.

Amber indicates that a project or milestone is at risk of failing to deliver the projected benefits or is behind delivery schedule. However, there were a number of green flags, including posters for next month’s Civility Saves Lives campaign being completed.

All would benefit from a clearer vision, authentic feedback and real evidence of positive change...