Research Study

Northumbria University is exploring the experiences of NHS Trusts taking steps to move towards a Restorative Just Culture to develop and share an informative ‘how to’ guide. We would like to hear your views if you are you an NHS Trust who has attended the Northumbria University and Mersey Care NHS FT programme: Principles and Practices of Restorative Just Culture and have implemented, or attempted to implement a restorative just culture.

About the Study

What is a Restorative Just Culture? - Restorative Just Cultures in healthcare organisations enable a response based on fairness, learning, restoring and repairing, when events do not go as planned. In practical terms this can mean the difference between a healthcare worker being suspended and disciplined for an error to which a flawed system has contributed or a healthcare worker not being suspended, receiving training and support/supervision with a change in the organisational system, resulting in positive employee wellbeing, safer levels of patient care and reduced costs.

Aims

We aim to explore the development and implementation of restorative just culture interventions and how effective these interventions have been. The study will involve collaboration with NHS Trusts and their employees who have attended the Northumbria University and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust training programme: Transforming Organisational Cultures: Principles and Practices of Restorative Just Culture. It aims to generate insights about the implementation and effectiveness of restorative just culture interventions in healthcare by exploring the design, development, processes, barriers and enablers of implementation and intervention effectiveness.

Want to get involved?

We are looking for UK NHS Trusts who attended the Northumbria University and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust programme: Principles and Practice of Restorative Just Culture, and have taken steps to implement any aspect of restorative just culture in their Trust, such as:

• amending or refreshing your people policies or procedures

• implementing or adapting the 4 Step process

• creating fairer reporting systems

• a difference in how staff communicate/talk to each other or support each other • revising trust values / behaviours to incorporate restorative approaches

• a reduction in suspensions

• a reduction in formal disciplinary investigations and / or grievances and / or bullying and harassment

• changes in staff survey responses for example: feeling safe to speak up about bullying and harassment and patient safety concerns

Or any other

To find out more about the study and what participating means, please read our information sheet: RJC Study Participant Information Sheet 

Be a participant

If you are interested in taking part please email bl.rjc@northumbria.ac.uk, or attend our research information session hosted on the Restorative Just Culture Virtual Community of Practice on the 9th November at 12:30 where you can find out more about the study, ask any questions and meet the research team – joining link here.

Why is this study needed now?

This research is important to inform the development of a Restorative Just Culture implementation and effectiveness guide for healthcare organisations. Currently, there are a limited number of published studies in healthcare from which this can be done and this research will add to the small but growing evidence base of empirical studies to enable a restorative just culture approach that takes into account the distinguishable characteristics and complex systems of healthcare when learning from incidents and supporting staff.