Our values and big signals - Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Our values

Our values were set following extensive staff and stakeholder engagement in 2018/2019.

We recognise that the NHS has changed dramatically since then for many reasons including the pandemic and we intend to include a refresh of our values as part of our work to develop a longer-term strategy for the organisation.

Achieving local excellence and global reach through compassionate and innovative healthcare, education and research.
Newcastle Hospitals vision

Our big signals

During January 2024, over 1,000 staff attended a series events, and from their feedback and subsequent engagement we developed 8 ‘big signals’. These set out the key issues for us to address.
Each month, the chief executive reports progress against these big signals to the public Board meeting, and other management meetings through his chief executive’s dashboard.

Our clinical board improvement plans, also demonstrate how actions contribute to achieving the big signals.

Our big signals

Quality of care will be our main priority.
We will be a great place to work where everyone feels supported.
We will restore our focus on excellence in all that we do.
Our technology will support our work and patients’ care.
Our buildings will be fit for purpose.
We will take our responsibilities as a public service seriously, carefully managing our money and performance.
We will make sure we develop our commitments to the communities who depend on us.
We will be honest, open and transparent about our challenges and our progress.

Everything that we do should link back to the big signals to ensure that we are working towards the same outcomes.

Our quality account priorities

Our quality priorities are reviewed and developed each year to continually improve patient safety, service user and carer experience, and clinical effectiveness.

Supporting staff to report incidents and with an enhanced focus on shared learning and systems-based improvements

Building on last year’s improvements we will continue the development of organisational safety culture resulting in improvements in the number of safety incidents recorded and associated flow of learning throughout the organisation, supporting the reduction of harm.

Safer and more effective medicines use

We will concentrate on ensuring patients’ medication lists are updated and accurate when they come into hospital, that medicines are stored safely and reduce waste from medicines returned to pharmacy.

We will increase the number of staff who have medicines management training in line with national standards.

Ensuring mental capacity, best interests decision making and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLs) are considered appropriately for patients with a learning disability

We will continue to focus on mental capacity assessments and best interest decisions and application of DoLs for patients with a learning disability.

Expanding the Accrediting Excellence (ACE) programme for wards and departments

Through our framework for quality improvement, we will have a clear focus on clinical and professional standards to continue to drive improvement in patient outcomes, patient satisfaction and staff experience. Thirty wards and departments will start the accreditation process over the next 12 months.

Roll-out of the patient experience real time surveys

Following a successful pilot on 14 wards, we want to expand our current programme and capture patient experience feedback from patients while they are still with us in hospital.

This will be rolled out to 40 wards over the next 12 months. In addition, we have welcomed the opportunity to work with partners in the Great North Care Alliance to introduce near real time measurement of the patient experience in emergency care as a joint priority for the year.

Waiting Safely – improving safety for patients who are waiting for treatment

We will focus on patients who are waiting for a total knee replacement, with the aim of optimising their health, before, during and after their operations.

The details of the quality priorities for each of the clinical boards can be found at the end of this document.


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.	We are proud We take huge pride in working here and we all contribute to our ongoing success.