Introduction
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offers the following statement regarding its efforts to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in its supply chain.
It demonstrates that the Trust have reviewed and met it’s requirements in line with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NuTH) is one of the largest teaching hospitals in England providing academically supported and clinically led acute, specialist and community services for adults and children to a large and diverse population across the North East and Cumbria as well as nationally and internationally. The Trust aspires to deliver outstanding services and a positive staff and patient experience.
The Trust has around 150 critical care beds, 1,600 other inpatient beds and 500 day case beds across 108 Wards and departments. There are 75 operating theatres and approximately 18,000 staff across several professions and staff groups. The Trust sees approximately 1.7 million patients per year. A range of procedures are provided including organ transplants, heart and lung operations, joint replacement surgery, consultant-led and midwife-led maternity services, with full supporting Neonatal Intensive Care, The Northern Neonatal Transport Service and Special Care Baby Unit facilities.
The Trust provides innovative, high quality healthcare, including community services. Services are provided locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
The Trust has an annual turnover of over £1 billion.
The core values of the organisation are:
We care and are kind
We care for our patients and their families, and we care for each other as colleagues.
We have high standards
We work hard to make sure that we deliver the very best standards of care in the NHS. We are constantly seeking to improve.
We are inclusive
Everyone is welcome here. We value and celebrate diversity, challenge discrimination and support equality. We actively listen to different voices.
We are innovative
We value research, we seek to learn and to create and apply new knowledge. ï‚·
We are proud
We take huge pride in working here and we all contribute to its ongoing success.
Procurement and supply chain
The Trust considers the potential social impact and effect of its supply chain prior to the commencement of a procurement. It is committed to ensuring its suppliers adhere to the highest standards of ethics and undertakes due diligence when considering new suppliers as well as regularly reviewing existing suppliers.
The Trust continues to utilise the Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ), which includes the requirement for supplier disclosure of any offence under the Mandatory Exclusion Grounds and also requires confirmation of compliance with reporting requirements under Section 54 of the Act 2015.
The Trust recognises that it has a responsibility to take a robust approach preventing and addressing any concerns to slavery and human trafficking.
The organisation is absolutely committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in its corporate activities, and to ensuring that its supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking.
The Procurement Act 2023 comes into force on 28th October 2024 and with it additional flexibility and obligations, the Trusts procurement approach and processes will be reviewed and updated in line with the new legislation.
The Trust holds the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Corporate Ethics Accreditation.
Our people
We are committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking and have processes in place to ensure that our staff are not being exploited and have a safe and supportive working environment.
We carry out employment checks on our staff in line with NHS Employment Check Standards which are mandated by the Department for Health and Social Care for all appointments to the NHS, including temporary staff such as locum doctors, Bank workers and workers supplied by an agency or other third-party contractor. The Standards also apply to volunteers, trainees, students and those on work experience. Checks cover identity, right to work, employment history and references, criminal record, health and professional registration and qualification and are subject to periodic review to ensure they reflect changes in legal and regulatory requirements.
All our staff are required to complete training to increase their awareness of modern slavery, human trafficking and issues related to these so they are able to understand, identify and report on these risks. The training covers: equality, diversity and human rights; safeguarding adults and children; anti-bribery and corruption; and Prevent awareness.
The Trust remains the only NHS Acute to hold the CIPS Corporate Ethics accreditation which demonstrates our commitment to ethical procurement and compliance with the CIPS code of ethics. All staff within the team who make sourcing decisions have attended and passed the annual training and assessment.
In addition, we have a number of policies and procedures in place, including:
- Prevention of Illegal Working
- Pre-employment checks and use of the Disclosure & Barring Service policy
- Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy and Response Plan
- Safeguarding Adults Policy and Guidelines
- Safeguarding Adults – Guidance on handling allegations/complaints of abuse made against employees
- Safeguarding Children – Guidance on handling allegations/complaints of abuse made against employees
- Domestic Abuse – Employee Policy
- Staff Bank and Agency Workers Policy (Non-Medical & Dental)
- Agency and Internal Locum Engagement Procedure (Medical & Dental)
- Recruitment and Selection Policy (Non-Medical & Dental)
- Recruitment and Selection Policy (Senior Medical & Dental)
- Recruitment and Selection Policy (Junior Doctors & LET Doctors)
- Mandatory Training Policy
- Speak-up we’re listening policy
- Relationships and Professional Boundaries Policy
- Volunteer Policy
- Policy Statement on Re-employment of Ex-Trust Employees
- Professional Registration Policy (GMC/GDC)
- Professional Registration Policy
- Staff Engagement Policy
- Policy statement on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders
The Trust’s Policy Framework
In addition to the People-related policies referred to in section 4 above, the Trust has a number of other policies in place which support this agenda including the Contractors – Guidance in the use of Contractors.
The Trust’s policy on the Use of Contractors clearly refers to the “Right to Work”, stating that:
“Checks must be undertaken for all workers to confirm that a worker has the legal right to work in the UK, the contractor must see one of the documents or combinations of the documents specified in List A or List B (included in the policy) of the Employment Check Standard. The worker must only provide documents from List B if they cannot provide documents from List A.
The documents must show that the worker is entitled to do the type of work being offered.
If the worker shows one of the original documents, or combinations of documents contained in List B, it indicates that they only have limited leave to work in the UK. The contractor must evidence that checks have been repeated before the expiry date of the document/s, at which point the worker must produce evidence that they have applied for further right to work and/or leave to remain or cease working for the contractor. All documentation provided as evidence must be copied as per the detailed guidance, signed and dated by the individual making the copy ”.
Priorities for 2024/25
- Continuing to progress the actions within the Modern Slavery Action Plan (current plan is included at Appendix 1).
- Continue to work with NHS Supply Chain to gain assurances on their Supply Chains which supply the Trust.
- Continually review procurement processes to ensure the Trust is meeting its commitments to eradicating modern slavery in its supply chains.
- Continue to work with partners across the NENC ICS to deliver a coordinated approach.
- The Trust will work with the NHS England team to support the implementation of the recommendations of the NHSE Review of risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in the NHS supply chain. We will also work with Trusts across the ICS to develop a consistent approach which maximises resources.
The current plan is included below – if this is not accessible to you and you require it in another format please email [email protected].
Modern Slavery Action Plan 2024/25
