A case for stronger internal communications?

Managing the risk of abuse in care is one of the most finely balanced operational challenges for residential care groups. The outcry following the recent BBC Panorama documentary very publicly highlighted the problems when the systems in place fail. The NHS has pulled out residents and revoked Castlebeck contracts. Staff  have been jailed and Castlebeck Winterbourne View has been closed.

Recent in-depth conversations I have had with Terry Bryan – the senior nurse who blew the whistle on the Castlebeck Winterbourne View abuse – got me thinking...

Terry was very articulate about the nature and seriousness of the barriers that prevent good care workers from blowing the whistle as he did and exposing wrongdoing or illegal behaviour, bullying and abuse.

In Terry’s opinion, these barriers to speaking out stemmed mainly from fear. Fear of not being believed. Fear of reprisal or victimisation. Fear of breach in confidentiality. Fear of losing their job.

Policy and comms should work hand-in-hand.

Developed alongside a truly robust internal policy and culture of abuse prevention, transparency and whistleblowing, internal communications can - and should - play a vital role in getting the message across. But it has to be a holistic approach. You’ve got to start from the top down with the ethos of the company, translating that into believable policy and making it very, very clear that you mean what you say.

If you can overcome the fears of the care workers who see and hear the abuse but at the moment do nothing about it, you can reduce the risk of abuse in your organisation. But you need to make sure that staff can completely trust in the support they will get internally, the confidentiality and the support, or things could quickly develop into a matter for crisis management.

How can you achieve best practice?

Merchant can work with your communications and/or HR department to help deliver an internal campaign that is strong enough to effect a lasting change in the behaviours and attitudes of your staff. Where serious change is required we can create an integrated, interactive campaign to complement policy. For example, in the case of whistleblowing:

• All directors and care home managers to review Panorama Castlebeck abuse documentary together as a team
• Open group discussion of the statement 'That abuse would never happen in our group' and the question 'Why not?'
• An actual whistleblower in social care to present their side of the story to all managers and directors
• Strengthening of policy and implementation of all staff campaign
• MD/CEO statement to all staff, supported by care home managers spreading the word to teams
• Extra support for any care homes thought to be more vulnerable than others - higher staff turnaround etc.
• Immediate and ongoing communications via, for example, posters, payslips and online to keep issue top of mind
• Three and six month reviews of opinion through staff survey to assess impact and effect on attitudes