We want to ensure that all staff are empowered to speak up regardless of their role or background. Throughout Cygnet we have worked tirelessly to ensure that each site has a Freedom to Speak Up Ambassador and that a culture that is open to staff speaking up is weaved through the fabric of the organisation.
I’ve been in my role now for about two and a half years. When I started we had between 50 and 60 Ambassadors. Today we have well over 180 Ambassadors across our many sites in the three countries – England, Scotland, and Wales.
It’s a real achievement and something that gives us a sense of pride, that we are embracing this culture, and we are saying this is our direction of travel as an organisation.
We want to make sure that we are protecting our patients’ safety at the same time, and also making sure we are improving the lives of all our workers within Cygnet. We spend so much more time at work than we do anywhere else, so it’s important that staff feel that there is a safe way that they can raise concerns, and there aren’t any repercussions for doing so.
It’s exciting to think about every individual Ambassador that we’ve had within the organisation come forward. Most importantly, it’s a voluntary role and it’s people that have identified and recognised the benefits of having Freedom To Speak Up within their service and being that go-to person that someone can go and ask questions, or someone that they can raise a concern with.
People who choose to become FTSU Ambassadors are people that are passionate about the culture in the workplace, people that are passionate about patient safety. Importantly, it’s been people from all different kinds of roles; from our doctors, support workers and our admin teams, which really creates a good network, and that diversity, that we can all learn from each other, within the network and within the organisation.
I’m really proud of Cygnet because not only have they taken the initiative to have a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, they have gone as far as employing a full-time deputy.
We’ve also gone as far as supporting our Ambassadors to attend a development day. So everyone who signs up to be a Freedom To Speak Up Ambassador is supported with a full day worth of training where we are looking at what support structures we have in Cygnet. We also look at how to have difficult conversations, and how to manage that.
So Cygnet really has supported and put in a lot of resources to ensure that this isn’t just an initiative, but this is driving towards the culture that we want to have within the organisation and saying, we want to hear from staff and everybody should feel safe to Speak Up.
My message to Ambassadors would be: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for volunteering to be an Ambassador. Thank you for raising the profile of making Speaking Up business as usual.”
We wouldn’t be where we are without them. They make the massive difference not just to the service users and residents that they look after, but to the colleagues that they support within their workplaces.
I am delighted that Cygnet will be celebrating our Freedom To Speak Up Ambassadors at a prestigious event on Wednesday 18th October.
We will take the opportunity to thank our Freedom To Speak Up Ambassadors and explore the theme of Breaking Barriers to Speaking Up. We are honoured that speakers will include Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clarke, NHS FTSU Guardian, Dr Tony Romero, Group CEO of Cygnet, Dr Joseph Farmer, Co-Founder of Civility Saves Lives, and Karen Johnson, Senior Vice President and Clinical Chief Operator of UHS. Special thanks go to our FTSU Exec Lead Pam Wenger for her continued support.
If you’re interested in attending our event in Birmingham on 18th October please email [email protected] to request a space.