Posted on: 11 April 2025
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership has launched its ‘avoidable harm’ pilot programme, starting with a focus on improving employee investigations. This is a partnership project coordinated by the Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism (MHLDA) programme Workforce Lead, Sonya Robertshaw, Dr Kerry Hinsby, Clinical Lead for the West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub and colleagues from NHS Wales.
Led by Andrew Cooper, from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in NHS Wales. The organisation had seen a 70% reduction in a pilot programme which advocated taking a ‘last resort’ approach to the use of the disciplinary process.
The focus on avoiding harm in employee investigations has subsequently been taken up by the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) who have published the paper ‘When we do harm’ paper. The programme draws on learning from the patient safety movement and this animation video highlights the importance of the work, by changing the culture and approach to ensure that formal processes are always ‘a last resort’.
The pilot programme has so far attracted a huge amount of interest with almost 200 colleagues from across the system attending our first two training events, including representatives from HR professionals, trade union colleagues, wellbeing leads and operational managers.
The pilot is being developed as a train-the-trainer model and we already have people signed up excited to support delivery. Of those that attended 90% said it improved their knowledge in this area and 95% said they would recommend the training.
Watch this video from Ellie Valentine, Associate Director of HR and OD, who attended the event.
Michelle Holland, Deputy Chief People Officer from NHS Bradford and District Care Trust, said: “Occasionally we all need to stop, take a breath before we act. The session on Employee Investigations and the When we do harm paper for me was just that. It gave time to reflect on our own practices and processes. The cross section of colleagues in the room also brought in many voices with very differing experiences which we do not always have the privilege of hearing.
“My final take away from the session was to encourage more operational managers to attend, share experiences and reflect as this will help change culture not just policies and processes.”