Back in September 2022 we launched our micro-aggression portal to help tackle bullying and harassment across our health and care sector in Norfolk & Waveney. It was a way for people to log incidences of micro-aggressions anonymously, safely and informally.

Our staff surveys, workforce race / disability equality standard indicators and listening events, continue to tell us that there is a growing issue with bullying and harassment in our workplace. This is unacceptable and certainly something we must address if we are to create environments where our staff feel valued, respected, safe and able to provide the best care for our patients / service users.

Through the portal, you have shared your experiences with toxic work cultures and inappropriate behaviours. These have been difficult to read but very powerful and impactful. From what you have told us, we can draw out the following themes where we need to take a deeper look at some of the root causes of these incidences:

• Mistreatment of our International staff (particularly nurses)
• Lack of cultural awareness
• Direct racial discrimination
• Poor leadership skills

The qualitative evidence base gathered through the portal, alongside the quantitative data we already have, is helping us have a deeper understanding of where the challenges lie. We have always committed to be open and honest with the findings and as a result, this is what we have done:

• A report has been produced from the first download of data from the portal. This report has been taken to our Human Resource Directors and Inclusion leads with a recommendation to address any organisational issues raised
• The experiences you have shared are being used as training aids for a series of ‘train the trainer’ micro-aggression awareness sessions
• Discussions are being had with the International Recruitment Hub around pastoral care and welfare support for our International staff, including Standard Operating Procedures around induction for all our International staff aligned to organisational values, so they know what behaviours to expect and how to report those which are inappropriate, without any negative consequences
• Hate crime / incidences awareness session is being delivered across our Integrated Care System on 19^th January in conjunction with the Police, Crown Prosecution Service and Union representatives
• Developing an anti-bullying and harassment print and digital media campaign ‘No excuse for Abuse’, to be fronted by our workforce
• Rolling out ‘Just and Restorative Culture’ training to all line managers across our system, that supports civility and respect in the workplace
• Seeking to de-bias all our recruitment and retention policies / practices, consistently across our Integrated Care System

So, to the courageous individuals who have shared their experiences on the portal, we don’t know who you are, but we want you to know this:

• Your honesty is respected and appreciated
• Your experience is significant and taken very seriously
• Your voice is being heard
• We are actively listening to you
• You are making a difference and positively changing the environment for others

But most of all, we want you to know that we care and that you matter to us.

Shimul Haider (she/her) – Head of Equality Diversity Inclusion

On behalf of Inclusion Leads Group for Norfolk & Waveney Integrated Care System