Investigation into matters relating to Jimmy Savile at Dryburn Hospital

The Board should commission a further review by the Senior Associate Director of Assurance and Compliance of all of the above policies in the light of the wider lessons learned from investigations throughout the NHS into Jimmy Savile, following the publication Kate Lampard’s independent lessons learned report by the Department of Health. One aspect of the current policies to be considered as part of this review should be the frequency of supervision of volunteers following their initial induction, depending upon their areas of work. The policy currently requires a quarterly supervision meeting (Lead Officer: Senior Associate Director of Assurance and Compliance; Deadline: 30th September 2014).

The Board should commission, through the Trust Board Audit Committee, internal audits of compliance with those policies not covered by recent internal audits or independent assessments, specifically the ‘Volunteer Policy’ (which also covers sanctioned visits), and the policies on conduct and discipline and standards of business conduct (Lead Officer: Senior Associate Director of Assurance and Compliance; Deadline: 31st October 2014).

The Trust should review its procedures for supervision of celebrity and similar visitors to make clear that the visitor’s interactions with patients (including by telephone) and with staff should be closely monitored, mindful of their impact on the patient experience, or staff welfare, and ultimately on the Trust itself. Supervising officers should have sufficient standing and authority to challenge any inappropriate behaviour by such visitors. These procedures should be documented in detail within a separate policy which should supersede the current policy statements set out within the ‘Volunteer Policy’. (Lead Officers: Senior Associate Director of Assurance and Compliance and Associate Director of Nursing, Patient Experience and Safeguarding; Deadline: 30th June 2014).