Staff policy awareness
Absence of a system to confirm that all staff have read and understood existing, updated, or new policies, procedures, and guidance documents.
69 items
1 source
17 inquiries
Source spread
Where this theme appears
Staff policy awareness has been flagged across 1 independent accountability source:
69 inquiry recs
This theme has been identified in one data source. As more data is added, cross-references may emerge.
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Source-grouped records are useful for tracing where a concern came from. Large sections show the 50 strongest matches for that source; counts still show the full theme total.
Inquiry Recommendations (69) — showing 50 strongest matches
51 — Review Catholic safeguarding policies manual
Recommendation: The Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service should review its policies and procedures manual and the documents within it to ensure that they are consistent, easier to follow and more accessible.
Gov response: In November 2021, the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency website was launched. It contains the National Safeguarding Standards, the National Safeguarding Policy, and practice guidance documents.
Accepted
42 — Church in Wales provincial safeguarding officers
Recommendation: The Church in Wales should make clear that the operational advice of provincial safeguarding officers must be followed by all members of the clergy and other Church officers. It should be enshrined in policy that those who are volunteers and …
Gov response: On 7 April 2021, the Church in Wales stated that its safeguarding policy, procedural documents and training materials would make it clear that the operational advice of provincial safeguarding officers should be followed by all …
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
39 — Political party safeguarding policies
Recommendation: All political parties registered with the Electoral Commission in England and in Wales must ensure that they have a comprehensive safeguarding policy. All political parties must also ensure that they have procedures to accompany their policies, in order that politicians, …
Gov response: On 3 July 2020, the Electoral Commission stated that given the statutory scope of its remit, introducing a requirement that the Commission should monitor and oversee compliance of the safeguarding policies of political parties would …
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
38 — Government department safeguarding policy reviews
Recommendation: The Cabinet Office must ensure that each government department reviews its child safeguarding policy or policies in light of the expert witness report of Professor Thoburn. There must also be published procedures to accompany their policies, in order that staff …
Gov response: On 18 September 2020, the UK government confirmed that all government departments were aware of Professor Thoburn's report. It also stated that Civil Service HR had launched a model safeguarding policy and 'Health Check' process, …
Accepted
36 — Guidance on DBS for overseas work
Recommendation: The Home Office should ensure explanatory guidance is issued, providing clarity to recruiting organisations and individuals concerning the use of the Disclosure and Barring Service scheme for work and volunteering outside the UK.
Gov response: On 21 January 2021, the Home Office stated that the Disclosure and Barring Service signposts applicants to the International Child Protection Certificate if their work abroad makes them ineligible for Disclosure and Barring Service certificates. …
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
30 — Amend Canon C30 on safeguarding due regard
Recommendation: The Church of England should amend the current canon requiring clerics to comply with the Bishop's Guidance on Safeguarding. The use of the words 'due regard' in Canon C30 is an acceptable term of art, but lacks sufficient clarity. Very …
Gov response: On 26 April 2021, the General Synod approved the Safeguarding (Code of Practice) Measure which strengthens and clarifies the obligation to follow safeguarding guidance. The statutory code replaces the existing duty to have 'due regard' …
Accepted
F9 — Fundamental standards of behaviour
Recommendation: The NHS Constitution should include reference to all the relevant professional and managerial codes by which NHS staff are bound, including the Code of Conduct for NHS Managers.
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted in Part
F7 — Clarity of values and principles
Recommendation: All NHS staff should be required to enter into an express commitment to abide by the NHS values and the Constitution, both of which should be incorporated into the contracts of employment.
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted in Part
POH-11 — Apply best offer principle equally in GLOS
Recommendation: The "best offer" principle which will apply in HSSA, as explained in response to Recommendation 10, shall be equally applicable in GLOS.
Gov response: Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation. The "best offer" principle applies equally across GLO, HSSA, and HCRS schemes at all panel stages. This has been in effect since 12 August. DBT will retrospectively …
Accepted
R7 — Criteria for management referrals to occupational health
Recommendation: We recommend that procedures for management referrals to occupational health should make clear the criteria which should trigger such referrals (para 5.5.14).
Unknown
WATE-(21) — Remind personnel of suspension guidelines: child's best interests, neutral, avoid long periods
Recommendation: Personnel departments and other persons responsible for disciplinary proceedings within local authorities should be reminded that: (a) in deciding whether or not a member of staff should be suspended following an allegation of abuse to a looked after child, first …
Unknown
F12 — Fundamental standards of behaviour
Recommendation: Reporting of incidents of concern relevant to patient safety, compliance with fundamental standards or some higher requirement of the employer needs to be not only encouraged but insisted upon. Staff are entitled to receive feedback in relation to any report …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
F8 — Clarity of values and principles
Recommendation: Contractors providing outsourced services should also be required to abide by these requirements and to ensure that staff employed by them for these purposes do so as well. These requirements could be included in the terms on which providers are …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
R10 — Observe 'Welfare of Children and Young People in Hospital'
Recommendation: We recommend that the Department of Health should take steps to ensure that its guide, "Welfare of Children and Young People in Hospital", is more closely observed. (para 5.8.8)
Unknown
WATE-(61) — Make willingness to visit children's homes pre-condition for committee appointment
Recommendation: The willingness of councillors to visit children's homes should be a pre-condition of appointment to the committee responsible for the homes and the importance of fulfilling the duty to visit and to report on visits conscientiously should be emphasised to …
Unknown
WATE-(9) — Make failure to report child abuse by staff an explicit disciplinary offence.
Recommendation: Consideration should be given to requiring failure by a member of staff to report actual or suspected physical or sexual abuse of a child by another member of staff or other person having contact with the child to be made …
Unknown
FENN-105 — Ensure London Underground written communications are plain, presented well, and followed.
Recommendation: London Underground shall make sure that all its written communications are in plain English and properly presented. They must check that instructions are being followed.
Unknown
BRIS-57 — Prioritise non-clinical skills in healthcare professional education and development
Recommendation: Greater priority than at present should be given to non-clinical aspects of care in six key areas in the education, training and continuing professional development of healthcare professionals: (cid:2) skills in communicating with patients and with colleagues; (cid:2) education about …
Unknown
R57 — IPC committee minutes reporting
Recommendation: Health Boards should ensure that the minutes of all meetings and reports from each infection prevention and control committee are reported to the level above in the hierarchy.
Gov response: Section 4.2 of the Scottish Government's response details that registered health professionals must meet professional standards on record-keeping established by their regulatory bodies, and the Scottish Government has its own Records Management: NHS code of …
Accepted
R56 — Regular IPC group meetings
Recommendation: Health Boards should ensure that infection prevention and control groups meet at regular intervals and that there is appropriate reporting upwards through the management structure.
Gov response: Section 2.2 of the Scottish Government's response notes the recommendation that NHS boards should ensure infection prevention and control is explicitly considered at all clinical governance committee meetings. Section 2.1 describes the national HAI Taskforce, …
Accepted
R51 — ICT functions as team
Recommendation: Health Boards should ensure that any Infection Control Team functions as a team, with clear lines of communication and regular meetings.
Gov response: Section 2.1 of the Scottish Government's response highlights the role of the national HAI Taskforce, which coordinates, implements, and monitors actions across NHS Scotland to reduce HAIs, working with local teams and existing structures. The …
Accepted
R46 — ICM direct responsibility
Recommendation: Health Boards should ensure that the Infection Control Manager has direct responsibility for the infection prevention control service and its staff.
Gov response: Section 2.2 of the Scottish Government's response clearly states that the Infection Control Manager (ICM) has overall responsibility for coordinating prevention and control of infection throughout the NHS board area and delivering the board-approved infection …
Accepted
R45 — Manager IPC job description
Recommendation: Health Boards should ensure that where a manager has responsibility for oversight of infection prevention control, this is specified in the job description.
Gov response: Section 2.2 of the Scottish Government's response details the specific responsibilities of the Infection Control Manager (ICM), including overall responsibility for coordinating prevention and control of infection throughout the NHS board area and delivering the …
Accepted
P2-59 — Local authority contractor governance assurance
Recommendation: Local authorities must ensure that the providers they contract or enter into agreements with have robust governance processes in place to oversee the services they provide. This should include Standard Operating Procedures that protect the security and dignity of the …
Gov response: This recommendation is under consideration.
Response Unclear
IHRD-90 — Clinical Guidance Dissemination Protocol
Recommendation: The Department should develop protocol for the dissemination and implementation of important clinical guidance, to include: (i) The naming of specific individuals fixed with responsibility for implementation and audit to ensure accountability. (ii) The identification of specific training requirements necessary …
Gov response: Protocol development for clinical guidance dissemination progressing.
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
IHRD-74 — Professional Codes in Employment Contracts
Recommendation: Likewise, professional codes governing nurses and other healthcare professionals should be incorporated into contracts of employment.
Gov response: Professional code requirements incorporated into healthcare professional employment contracts.
Accepted
IHRD-73 — GMC Code in Employment Contracts
Recommendation: General Medical Council ('GMC') 'Good Medical Practice' Code requirements should be incorporated into contracts of employment for doctors.
Gov response: GMC Good Medical Practice requirements incorporated into doctor employment contracts.
Accepted
F180 — Candour about incidents
Recommendation: Guidance and policies should be reviewed to ensure that they will lead to compliance with Being Open, the guidance published by the National Patient Safety Agency.
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
F178 — Implementation of the duty Ensuring consistency of obligations under the duty of openness transparency and …
Recommendation: The NHS Constitution should be revised to reflect the changes recommended with regard to a duty of openness, transparency and candour, and all organisations should review their contracts of employment, policies and guidance to ensure that, where relevant, they expressly …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted in Part
F11 — Fundamental standards of behaviour
Recommendation: Healthcare professionals should be prepared to contribute to the development of, and comply with, standard procedures in the areas in which they work. Their managers need to ensure that their employees comply with these requirements. Staff members affected by professional …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
F10 — Fundamental standards of behaviour
Recommendation: The NHS Constitution should incorporate an expectation that staff will follow guidance and comply with standards relevant to their work, such as those produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and, where relevant, the Care Quality Commission, …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted in Part
BAHA-2 — Standard Orders Prohibiting Five Techniques
Recommendation: Joint Doctrine Publication (JDP) 1-10 should include the requirement for standard orders to be issued for each operation prohibiting the use of the five techniques.
Gov response: Accepted. JDP 1-10 has been updated to require standard orders prohibiting the five techniques for each operation.
Accepted
WATE-(60) — Clearly define purpose and scope of visits to children's homes
Recommendation: The purpose and scope of visits to children's homes, whether by councillors or by senior and intermediate managers, should be clearly defined and made known to all such visitors.
Unknown
WATE-(20) — Expedite disciplinary proceedings for child abuse, independent of police investigations
Recommendation: Any disciplinary proceedings that are necessary following a complaint of abuse to a child should be conducted with the greatest possible expedition and should not automatically await the outcome of parallel investigations by the police or the report on any …
Unknown
SHEE-55 — Emphasise clear orders, strict discipline, and effective communication for ship safety
Recommendation: This Court need say no more than stress the need for: (a) Clear and concise orders. (b) Strict discipline. (c) Attention at all times to all matters affecting the safety of the ship and those on board. There must be …
Unknown
BRIS-98 — Regulatory bodies to vary professional duties for full-time managers without patient care
Recommendation: The relevant professional regulatory bodies should make rules varying the professional duties of those professionals, whose registration they hold, who are in full-time managerial roles, so as to take account of the fact that, while occupying such roles, they do …
Unknown
BRIS-46 — Incorporate professional codes of practice into contracts for nurses, allied professions, managers
Recommendation: The relevant codes of practice for nurses, for professions allied to medicine and for managers should be incorporated into their contracts of employment with hospital trusts or primary care trusts.
Unknown
BRIS-45 — Incorporate doctors' professional practice code into employment contracts and GP terms
Recommendation: The doctors’ Code of Professional Practice, as set down in the GMC’s ‘Good Medical Practice’, should be incorporated into the contract of employment between doctors and trusts. In the case of GPs, the terms of service should be amended to …
Unknown
R32 — Staffing concerns escalation
Recommendation: Health Boards should ensure that there is straightforward and timely escalation process for nurses to report concerns about staffing numbers/skill mix.
Gov response: Section 4.1 of the Scottish Government's response highlights that the NMC code requires registered nurses and midwives to escalate concerns regarding patient safety or the level of care. To support this, a national whistleblowing policy, …
Accepted
P2-69 — Formalise multi-organisation arrangements
Recommendation: Where organisations work together to care for people after death, the arrangements should be formalised through contracts or service level agreements. This should include joint Standard Operating Procedures. The parties to the contracts or service level agreements should ensure that …
Gov response: This recommendation is under consideration.
Response Unclear
P2-58 — Contractual incident notification requirement
Recommendation: There must be a contractual requirement to formally notify the contract manager and senior local authority officers of any incidents involving the deceased, as well as the outcome of inspections or other action by the Human Tissue Authority or others …
Gov response: This recommendation is under consideration.
Response Unclear
P2-57 — Local authority review third-party contracts
Recommendation: Local authorities must review all contractual arrangements and agreements with third-party providers of services that care for and transport the deceased. This must include consideration of assurance mechanisms, such as key performance indicators, regular reporting, formal contract review meetings, site …
Gov response: This recommendation is under consideration.
Response Unclear
P2-6 — Security breaches reviewed by expert with action plans
Recommendation: All NHS trusts should take every breach of security in a mortuary or body store extremely seriously. Each security incident should be reviewed by a security expert who is able to identify any systemic security issues associated with the incident. …
Gov response: The Government has agreed to accept in principle this recommendation subject to further work to determine its full impact.
Accepted in Part
In progress
IHRD-52 — Inquest Duties Protocol
Recommendation: Protocol should detail the duties and obligations of all healthcare employees in relation to healthcare related inquests.
Gov response: Protocols developed detailing employee duties in relation to healthcare inquests.
Accepted
F240 — Hygiene
Recommendation: All staff and visitors need to be reminded to comply with hygiene requirements. Any member of staff, however junior, should be encouraged to remind anyone, however senior, of these.
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
F219 — A regulator as an alternative
Recommendation: An alternative option to enforcing compliance with a management code of conduct, with the risk of disqualification, would be to set up an independent professional regulator. The need for this would be greater if it were thought appropriate to extend …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted in Part
No update 2+ yrs
F218 — Enforcement of standards and accountability
Recommendation: Serious non-compliance with the code, and in particular, non-compliance leading to actual or potential harm to patients, should render board-level leaders and managers liable to be found not to be fit and proper persons to hold such positions by a …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
F217 — Common selection criteria
Recommendation: A list should be drawn up of all the qualities generally considered necessary for a good and effective leader. This in turn could inform a list of competences a leader would be expected to have.
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted in Part
F216 — Leadership framework
Recommendation: The leadership framework should be improved by increasing the emphasis given to patient safety in the thinking of all in the health service. This could be done by, for example, creating a separate domain for managing safety, or by defining …
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted
F215 — Shared code of ethics
Recommendation: A common code of ethics, standards and conduct for senior board-level healthcare leaders and managers should be produced and steps taken to oblige all such staff to comply with the code and their employers to enforce it.
Gov response: The government published "Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777) on 19 November 2013, responding to all 290 recommendations of the Francis Report. This followed an initial response "Patients First and Foremost" …
Accepted