Earlier this month, clinicians and education experts at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust welcomed representatives from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, NHS England and NHS Devon to experience the innovative way they are seeking to tackle sexual misconduct in healthcare.
Jacqui Rees-Lee, Consultant Surgeon, director of medical education and co-lead for the Digital Futures programme, said: “Far too many people working in surgery and in other areas of the NHS have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct. The publication of the report from the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery last autumn made shocking reading and drew national attention to this issue. Here in Torbay and South Devon, in response to this, we have set out to create an educational tool to facilitate real-world, on the shop floor, cultural change where all team members feel empowered to speak out. We have been working on this training for over two years aiming to empower and educate people to speak out when sexual harassment is witnessed in the workplace.”
The virtual reality facilitated workshop is based on real experiences of trainee doctors and involved a large multi-disciplinary team in its development and production. Both Bijal O’Gara, Consultant Anaesthetist and Jon Watt, Digital Futures facilitator were instrumental in the building and design of the workshop. There are plans to roll this out locally and regionally and there has been widespread national interest.
Laura Hamilton, Council member at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) and Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon, said: “The prevalence of sexual misconduct in surgery, and healthcare more widely, has been brought to the fore in the last year, and many of us are relieved that we are now able to openly talk about this difficult topic. Unfortunately, there remains considerable work to be done, to eradicate these abhorrent behaviours from our profession.
“The ground-breaking education tool that has been developed at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust is incredibly powerful, combining their work on emotional connection with cutting edge digital solutions. By using virtual reality to immerse participants in scenarios where sexual misconduct is happening, the tool invokes deep empathy, so all participants can see how disturbing it is to be targeted in this way. Hopefully this will help every member of the surgical team feel empowered to stand up to bad behaviour, and will equip teams with the skills and confidence to speak out.
“RCS England is committed to a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct, and we are actively working to eradicate this behaviour in surgery and healthcare.”
Nick Peres, programme director for digital innovation and transformation, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our digital futures programme is all about human centred digital innovation. The immersive virtual reality experience was designed to create an emotional response and support discussion in facilitated multi-disciplinary groups.”
Kate Lissett, chief medical officer, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Earlier this year we signed NHS England’s organisational charter on sexual safety in healthcare and our own culture charter, approved by the Board last year, pledges to our people that we will promote a culture does not tolerate unwanted, harmful or inappropriate behaviours. We are absolutely clear – there is no place anywhere in our organisation for sexual misconduct. I am very proud that our clinicians and colleagues have proactively come together through our digital futures programme to address this important issue in a really thoughtful and impactful way.”
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