Task 5B (revised): Ethical considerations in my new professional practice

I am slightly behind on blogging the tasks from the module 2 hand book as recently I have been trying to gather as much information and literature as possible on my inquiry topic.

As my professional status has changed since the last blog I completed for task 5B, I am now going to look into the codes and regulations in my new professional community within the NHS. This should give me a clear indication to where ethical considerations lie when I eventually undertake my inquiry. 

Firstly, as I have not yet received an official contract for my role as a Therapy assistant in Orthopedics and hydrotherapy, I decided to look into the NHS codes of conduct and their 'Trust Values' on the internet:

Our values

Our values were created by a full staff engagement exercise following one-to-ones and small group interviews with over 150 staff members, a series of larger workshops and finally a Trust Board discussion.

Our values

Our three values statements are:

Patients first

Patients and families will be at the heart of what we do and their experience within the hospital, and their perception of the Trust, will be our measure of success.

Working together

Our clinical teams will provide services to patients and are crucial to our success. We have launched a leadership strategy that ensures our clinical management teams are engaged in the day-to-day management and governance of the Trust.

Always improving

Our growing reputation in research and development and our approach to education and training will continue to incorporate new ideas, technologies and greater efficiencies in the services we provide

Living our values every day

We aim to make these values ‘what we do’ – to inspire, develop and support every one of us to live our values; every patient, every colleague, every day.
These values are about us all helping each other to deliver great patient experience more consistently – involving people who use our services, their families, carers, staff and partners in continuing to improve the experience people have using and delivering our services.
Each ward, department or service will exhibit different behaviours in living these values every day. In order to identify them, champions are being recruited to work with these groups to articulate, agree and display them as well as live them. We will also teach them to challenge, in a supportive way, behaviours that contravene our values. The more people know and understand what our values are, the more they are prompted into living them on a day-to-day basis.
The values are being embedded in the Trust in many different ways.  Some are already in place, and others are a work-in-progress:

• Communication – we regularly review our communication, both with each other and also with our patients. If we aren’t using our values in the way we talk and write, we aren’t really living them.
• Recruitment – our values will be integrated into our recruitment and selection processes so our prospective employees are aware of them before they even start with us.
• Induction – all new staff members must attend our Trust induction programme shortly after joining us. The values are heavily embedded in this programme, to show staff members how they link to their every day working lives.
• Training – all our training courses are reviewed to ensure our values are identified in the new skills learned.
• Appraisals – objective-setting at appraisals will be linked to our values so staff members understand how their behaviour and outcomes indicate their adherence to them.

Recognition – Hospital Heroes, our staff recognition scheme, is judged including our values as the criteria. That way, the values and behaviours we set store by are always at the forefront. 

Patient confidentiality is a subject I touched on when I was interviewed for my recent job role. I believe it is crucial to keep anonymity in the workplace, especially when conducting research within a hospital environment. As I will not be conducting my research on patients, I will however be engaging with my professional work colleagues, and consent from them will be needed before I hand in my inquiry plan. My official start date for my new job will be the Monday 9th may, one day before the designated submission date for module 2. So I think I will discuss this query on my SIG as I would love to hear other people's views on which way to go about this obstacle. For consent of my work colleagues who I have not yet worked with- I will be interviewing members of staff in the therapy department with additional questionnaires and surveys. Would it be more appropriate to ask for consent in the form of an email? Or would arranging an appointment at the hospital to speak to my new manager be more efficient? My future work colleagues may also want to remain anonymous when I interview them- so I need to consider this as a possibility. 

There is an NHS England Confidentiality Policy on the internet in a PDF form which applies to all members of staff within the health sector:

"3.7 All staff

  

3.7.1 Confidentiality is an obligation for all staff. Staff should note that they are bound by the confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice 2003. There is a confidentiality clause in their contract and that they are expected to participate in induction, training and awareness raising sessions carried out to inform and update staff on confidentiality issues.

3.7.2 Any breach of confidentiality, inappropriate use of health or staff records, or abuse of computer systems is a disciplinary offense, which could result in dismissal or termination of employment contract, and must be reported."

It is then essential that I am extremely vigilant and cautious when conducting my inquiry within my workplace. I need to plan everything down to the final detail and make sure that I am considering any ethical issues that may arise from my research.