The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
NHS trust is best in the country
Top accolade for health organisation
A Cambridgeshire NHS trust has been named as the best in the country at promoting a culture in which staff can speak up.
Dr Henrietta Hughes, National Guardian for the NHS, published her second national Freedom to Speak Up Index reportlastweek.
For the second year running, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, which delivers community health services across the East of England, is the highest ranked NHS trust in the country.
The trust provides, a range of children’s services to children, young people and families, immunisation services, integrated contraception and sexual health services, dental services and other services in
Peterborough and the rest of the county.
Welcoming the national recognition, Mary Elford, chair of Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust said: “I am so proud that our commitment to building a culture where people feel safe to express their concerns, as well as their ideas for improvement, and have confidence that these will be acted upon has been recognised for the second year running.
“There is always more we can do, and we will continue to build on this success, including through our network of Freedom to Speak Up Champions.”
Matthew Winn, trust chief executive added: “It is great news that the views of our staff have led to our trust being rated the best NHS trust in the country for encouraging staff to raise their concerns. As the index report identifies, a positive speaking up culture is usually seen in trusts, such as ours, rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, and is therefore directly linked to how our staff provide high quality and safe care for residents across the East of England. I am always inspired by all the great work our staff do and the compassionate way they do it.”
Dr Hughes commended the trust saying: “Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust deserve enormous credit for being the highest ranked trust overall on the Freedom to Speak Up Index for the second year running.
“Looking at the figures in more detail reveals that the trust also attained the highest percentage in relation to staff agreeing that they would feel secure raising concerns about clinical practice.
“I very much hope other trusts are able to look to what they are doing in order to achieve similar results .’’