Our Trust is now adopting a Restorative Just and Learning Culture (RJLC), which applies equally to both employee relations and patient safety. It’s about how we respond to incidents within the organisation, ensuring that we take restorative and just actions and, importantly, learn from them. This approach does not reduce accountability, rather, it encourages us to view each incident from multiple perspectives, focusing on who has been affected rather than assigning blame. As part of that response there is an emphasis on fairness, support and learning. There are a number of benefits to this approach and one that has been seen in other NHS trusts too.
To implement RJLC we've updated several of our policies: mutual respect, grievance, disciplinary and sexual behaviour. We also recognise that managers may not always feel empowered to take action, so these new policies aim to provide clarity and support.
What is it about?
Learning from mistakes: We know that in any organisation mistakes can happen. Our focus is on understanding and learning from these situations rather than assigning blame.
Support and care: After an incident, this approach aims to identify who has been hurt, and ensure those involved can share their experiences and get the care and support they need.
Repairing relationships: It helps rebuild trust and restore relationships that may have been damaged.
Accountability: Where taking accountability for actions is important, this approach has clear steps to go through to be sure this is the right course of action.