Management response to staff speaking up in healthcare

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Management response to staff speaking up in the healthcare workplace.

• IRAS ID

  315864

• Contact name

  Melika Ghorbankhani

• Contact email

  GhorbankhaniM@cardiff.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Cardiff Uni

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  REC868, Ethics application number ; SPON1898-22, Sponsor Number

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 2 months, 2 days

• Research summary

  The NHS in Wales, in common with health services internationally, are working towards a culture that encourages the raising of any concerns by staff to be embedded into routine discussions on service delivery and patient care, as these are the most effective mechanism for early warning of problems, wrongdoing, malpractice or risks. Accordingly, line managers are best placed to act on, deal with, and resolve such issues early. Nevertheless, the experiences and perceptions of managers who must respond to concerns are significantly under-researched. It is also recognised that managers may be uncomfortable having their judgments and authority questioned, and employees may not believe their speaking up will be addressed. Speaking up and the issues that are speaking up brings to light should be embraced as chances to learn and grow. Meanwhile, how managers react to issues is influenced by senior staff's support (or lack thereof) (e.g., executives/non-executives).
  The research aims to generate an in-depth understanding of managers' experiences in responding to workers who speak up about patient safety concerns. This aim can facilitate objectives to develop ways of supporting managers to respond to workers' patient safety concerns effectively and appropriately.
  Study Setting: The Researcher will be hosted within the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) Staff Wellbeing Team, whose remit covers staff speaking up
  Participants: Two groups of participants will be recruited for the study. The first group of participants comprises Healthcare Managers at Band 7 and above who have to respond to patient safety concerns raised by staff. The second group of participants includes senior, or executive managers who receive reported patient safety concerns from lower-level managers or teams and have the experience of supporting lower-level managers in dealing with patient safety concerns.
  Overall study design: Exploratory qualitative study
  Data collection approach: Qualitative semi-structured interviews
  Data analysis: Thematic analysis

• REC name

  N/A

• REC reference

  N/A