Health Board operation of Workforce Policies: FOI release

Information requested

1. How does the Cabinet Secretary ensure that Health Boards operate the Workforce Policies in a fair manner as per the relevant governance standard?

2. If an employee is concerned that a health board is not applying the workforce governance standard and relevant policies fairly, to whom should this be reported within The Scottish Government or its agencies?

3. When was the last meeting held between the Cabinet Secretary and appropriate representation from NHS Highland to discuss progress and follow up of The Sturrock Report /The Healing Process plus any concerns expressed to the Cabinet Secretary by members of the public. Please provide a copy of any record kept of this meeting.

4. When is the next meeting scheduled?

Response

Some of the information you have requested is available from other website pages as noted specifically in the answers to questions 1-3 below. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

1. How does the Cabinet Secretary ensure that Health Boards operate the Workforce Policies in a fair manner as per the relevant governance standard?
Each NHS Board operates within the NHSScotland governance framework. Staff Governance is firmly established as one of the strands of the NHSScotland governance framework for which all Boards are held accountable. It looks at how staff are managed and how they feel they are being managed. The Staff Governance Standard that has a legislative footing requires all NHS Boards to demonstrate that staff are:

• well informed;
• appropriately trained and developed;
• involved in decisions;
• treated fairly and consistently, with dignity and respect, in an environment where diversity is valued;
• provided with a continuously improving and safe working environment, promoting the health and wellbeing of staff, patients and the wider community.

Through the annual Staff Governance Monitoring process the Scottish Government asks boards to provide evidence that systems are in place to: monitor progress, identify areas of concern and ensure action plans are in place to demonstrate how improvements are being made and how they will continue to be made. Boards are asked to work with their Partnership Forums and Staff Governance Committees to complete the Staff Governance Monitoring Return. This must be signed off by the Board’s Chair of the Staff Governance Committee and Employee Director. The legislative footing of the Staff Governance Standards, The NHS Reform (Scotland) Act 2004, requires NHSScotland employers to deliver the key strategic agenda of ensuring the fair and effective management of staff. A number of strategic workforce policies, initiatives and agreements are in place including those on best employment practice and policy, and workforce development and planning. Implementation of these policies, initiatives and agreements will support NHSScotland employers in meeting the requirements of the Staff Governance Standard and ensure modernisation of the workforce through pay, partnership and good employment practices.

2. If an employee is concerned that a health board is not applying the workforce governance standard and relevant policies fairly, to whom should this be reported within The Scottish Government or its agencies?
The national workforce policies include processes and routes for escalation. This includes routes for grievance, appeal and in the case of the Whistleblowing Policy escalation to an independent body for review. Details of the policies and routes to raise concerns are set out in NHSScotland PIN and OFS Policies. Whilst the Scottish Government’s role is to set policies and frameworks at a national level, it is for Health Boards as an employer to apply these fairly and consistently locally. The treatment of staff is a contractual matter and remains, by law, between an employee and the Health Board as their employer. as such Scottish Government is unable to intervene in individual cases.

3. When was the last meeting held between the Cabinet Secretary and appropriate representation from NHS Highland to discuss progress and follow up of The Sturrock Report/The Healing Process plus any concerns expressed to the Cabinet Secretary by members of the public. Please provide a copy of any record kept of this meeting.
For clarity, the response provided below is based on our interpretation of the above question as referring to the current Cabinet Secretary, and also that references to “concerns expressed to the Cabinet Secretary from members of the public”, are specifically in relation to where these have formed part of a discussion with NHS Highland officials at a meeting with Cabinet Secretary. The last ministerial meeting, which included discussion of the Sturrock Report, took place on 4 May 2022. Record of this has been published on the NHS Highland website: Record of Annual Review.

You may also be interested to take a look at the record from a special meeting of the Board to consider the final report of the NHS Highland Healing Process Independent Review Panel was held on 28 June 2022 , which can be found on the NHS Highland website:
https://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Meetings/BoardsMeetings/Pages/June2022.aspx.

Additionally you may be interested to know that the Cabinet Secretary also met with Whistleblowing Champions from every Health Board. This included the Whistleblowing Champion from NHS Highland, at a meeting on 15 March 2022 to discuss their role and experience in applying the Whistleblowing Standards.

4. When is the next meeting scheduled?
We can confirm that there is currently no meeting scheduled for the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and NHS Highland to discuss the issues raised in question 3.

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