Temporary NHS Staff ‘Fearful’ Of Speaking Up About Patient Safety Issues Report Reveals
Temporary NHS workers fear speaking up about patient safety due to discrimination, an investigation by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has found, with some subjected to racism.
The findings were identified during an investigation carried out looking at the integration of temporary staff into healthcare providers. During the investigation, HSSIB heard the discrimination experienced by temporary workers is due to their work status and sometimes due to their ethnicity.
As well as having a negative impact on their wellbeing, the report states that temporary workers’ experience of discrimination and barriers to speaking up may mean they do not share patient safety concerns, and therefore mitigations to safety risks may not be put in place.
Agency staff told the investigation that workplace culture and attitudes in some NHS organisations made them feel “isolated” and “unable to integrate” with their teams.
Health leaders described the findings as “unacceptable” and warned that racism “creates further challenges and barriers to raising safety concerns”
Caroline Waterfield, director of development and employment at NHS Employers, said: “Its essential for safe patient care that everyone who works in the team feels able to speak up and know they will be listened to, whether employed directly or via a bank or agency. It’s not good enough for patient care that temporary workers have poorer experiences, and this report shows it is further compounded for staff from ethnic minorities.
“The discrimination ethnic minority staff face and the impact this has on their ability to speak up on patient safety issues is a clear example of the vital link between equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and tackling health inequalities. It demonstrates the importance of tackling inequality within the workforce in order to improve patient care and clearly shows that tackling inequalities for minority groups within the NHS can make care safer for all.
“This report sets out some very practical examples of actions to improve both staff experience and patient safety. These, alongside the NHS Workforce EDI Improvement Plan and the new dataset available in the NHS Staff Survey related to bank workers are valuable resources for employers to draw upon. We will also continue to support members via our work programmes.”
