Staff at Shropshire NHS trust fear that if they raise concerns it will be held against them, leaders to be told
Members of staff at a Shropshire NHS trust are concerned that if they raise concerns it will be held against them, leaders will be told this week.
Senior leadership at the Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (Shropcom) will be asked to publicly reaffirm their “commitment to safe speaking up culture” when they meet in Telford on Thursday (October 2).
David Ballard, Shropcom's Freedom to Speak Up Guardian (FTSUG), has written to the board meeting about his conversations with trust staff across the organisation.
He wrote: "Through conversations with staff, the FTSUG has been made aware that staff are concerned about experiencing detriment as a result of raising a concern."
The report adds: "The guardian is aware of examples where staff have raised fear of detriment, and whether justified or not, it is clear that there is work to do in this area."
Leaders have recently also visited HMP Stoke Heath near Market Drayon to raise awareness of the freedom to speak up service.
Shropcom employs around 1,800 staff in community settings across Shropshire and Dudley, including community hospitals in Ludlow, Oswestry, and Bridgnorth.
Leaders say having an open culture is important and Shropcom has a number of trained ‘speaking-up champions’ across its organisation who staff can contact confidentially.
The report to the board says there were 11 new cases of staff concerns raised during the first three months of the 2025-26 financial year.
They were mainly from admin and clerical staff around alleged bullying. One of the cases remains open while actions were taken in all the others which have been closed.
Board members will also be told that Shropcom’s rate of staff absences is higher than planned and has been rising recently.
The board papers are asking senior leadership to publicly and ‘explicitly’ affirm that no staff member will suffer detriment for raising concerns.
It should “highlight the statutory protection that exists for those raising a concern”.
They are also being asked to implement a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on detriment, and to train managers and team leaders to recognise and prevent subtle forms of detriment, such as exclusion or negative performance reviews.
Board members are also being asked to improve how they consider whether someone has been treated detrimentally.
The board papers reveal there “have been instances where staff have withdrawn cases through fear of suffering detriment” but “to date there is no evidence that detriment has been experienced as a result of raising a concern”.
But the papers add: “With limited responses thus far, evidence of detriment is inconclusive.”
