Policy News - 24 September 2021

The following policies have recently been ratified by the Trust’s Policy Committee.   Please take the time to review those which may be relevant to your role.  

Agile Working Policy

The Agile Working Policy is a newly developed policy for the Trust and has been developed as a direct result of the review of working practices during the COVID pandemic.

The purpose of the policy is to set out a number of principles in relation to agile working for both managers and employees.  

The policy outlines the key considerations for agile working which are:

• Responsibilities – employees will be responsible for delivering outcomes and being held to account for this responsibility and managers are responsible for creating a virtual working environment that supports colleagues to achieve.
• Technology – the right equipment is essential to make sure our employees can effectively carry out their duties at home.
• Understanding – a clear understanding of what is expected of them is essential to all parties.
• Socialisation – building relationships is a fundamental part of our working lives. Working from home removes that daily socialisation with colleagues in the workplace. However, with the use of technology, this can be achieved in different ways.
• Time – we must take care not to blur the boundaries between work and home.

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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

The purpose of this policy is to:

• support the creation of an environment in which individual differences and the contributions of all our employees are recognised and valued;
• give every employee a working environment that promotes dignity and respect to all in line with our behavioural compact. No form of incivility, intimidation, bullying or harassment will be tolerated; and
• promote the implementation of training, development and progression opportunities to all staff fairly and consistently.

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Secondment Policy

The purpose of the policy is set out the principles and process for managers/employees to follow if a member of staff applies for a secondment opportunity.

The policy ensures that clear arrangements are in place in advance of any secondment commencing, including completion of an appropriate secondment agreement [as detailed in appendix 1 of the policy] and ensuring that all stakeholders are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities under the secondment.

The policy also describes how the Trust, through appraisal, objective setting and personal development plans, will ensure that an evaluation of learning is undertaken following the completion of secondments to ensure that newly developed knowledge or skills can be identified and used to the benefit of the service.

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Management of Personal Relationships at Work Policy

The policy also provides information advice and guidance to managers and employees regarding personal relationships between individuals who work together with relation to following specific work activities: 

• Recruitment;
• Where a line management relationship exists;
• Where there is no line management relationship;
• Forming of relationships at work;
• Job evaluation/promotion/pay;
• Disciplinary Issues;
• Managing Situations when a Personal Relationship Adversely Affects the Workplace.

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Intellectual Property Policy

This policy provides information regarding the definition of intellectual property, the identification of intellectual property, the determination of ownership of intellectual property and what the Trust will do in order to identify, protect and commercially develop its intellectual property. 

The policy provides a framework and sets out how the Trust requires intellectual property to be identified and managed in order to ensure that intellectual property owned by the Trust can be used to improve patient care and potentially generate income for the Trust by means of commercial development.

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Same Sex Accommodation Policy

The aim of policy is to ensure that all staff are aware of the importance that the Trust places upon maintaining same sex accommodation. The policy sets out arrangements with general application, and defines areas which deviate from those arrangements. The policy also defines circumstances where a breach of same sex accommodation will be deemed to have occurred, and states what steps must be taken to declare such breaches.

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