Colleagues

The 4ward programme applies to every member of staff at the Trust - including the Chair and Chief Executive and the Board.

4ward uses proven, evidence-based methods to help us all behave at work in ways which will support more effective team working, build a shared sense of purpose and empowerment and promote a more positive working environment – for the benefit of colleagues, our patients and the community that we serve.

The programme is supported by an increasing number of 4ward advocates – colleagues from across the Trust who have already made a commitment to positively demonstrate our 4ward behaviours in their day to day work. But we want every member of staff to become an advocate and champion 4ward in our hospitals.

In the spirit of ‘Listen, learn, lead’ you can see how one of our teams, our Radiology Team is getting involved in 4ward and using it to transform their service in line with the needs of their patients below:

Colleagues across the organisation can get involved in 4ward by undertaking our 4step process which is outlined below:

Step 1 – Know what our 4ward behaviours are.

For current colleagues, we have an ongoing engagement programme to help reinforce messages about our 4ward behaviours and our ambition for them to become ‘the way we do things round here.’

For new staff, 4ward themes run through our recruitment processes and are shared at the beginning of every Trust induction

Some examples of our 4ward behaviours are included below:

Step 2 – ‘We Do This By’

This is a simple process which supports discussions in teams about what the 4ward behaviours mean to them in their everyday work, what it looks and feels like when colleagues positively model our 4ward behaviours and how to deal with it when they don’t, through positive challenge and constructive criticism

Here's our Executive Team's ‘we do this by’ as an example:

Step 3 – Showcase

One of our 4ward behaviours is ‘Work together, celebrate together’ and as colleagues deliver improvements to their service and nurture that more positive working environment, teams are actively supported and encouraged to celebrate their success with each other, the wider organisation and the outside world

Have something you would like to showcase, get in touch with the communications team who can help you to do so: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can find all of our 4ward showcases in Worcestershire Weekly here and see how other teams are displaying 4ward behaviours, remember you could be next! https://worcestershire-weekly-nhs.tfemagazine.co.uk//search/?q=showcase

We also encourage colleagues to share good news, achievements and celebrate on our award-winning staff Facebook page www.facebook.com/groups/WorcsAcuteStaff/. This is a group set up by staff, for staff at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Support. Inspire. Celebrate. Learn. Share. Living the 4ward behaviours, we want staff to celebrate together as well as work together. This is a forum for you to share things of importance for you, whether it be personal or team achievements, fundraising efforts, community events or social ideas.

Step 4 –Assessing and evaluating the positive impact all of this is having.

Currently we measure the impact our 4ward behaviours are having in two ways:

• Through the quarterly staff friends and family test
• Through the national staff survey

We really encourage colleagues to complete both and answer all questions including the 4ward questions based around the impact displaying the 4ward behaviours as a team is having on putting your patients first.