UHMBT is delighted to announce that Kara Mallonga has been appointed as a Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Guardian, following a competitive recruitment process.
Kara, an Operating Theatres Nurse at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal, is delighted to be taking on the role and joins our two existing FTSU Guardians, Wesley Blondel and Heather Bruce.
The UHMBT FTSU Service is completely confidential, impartial and is for everyone. Speaking up has no limitations – it is about anything which gets in the way of patient care and colleagues’ wellbeing.
Kara, who previously worked as a Nurse Midwife in the Philippines at the Dr Jesus C Delgado Memorial Hospital, will be working part of the time as a FTSU Guardian and clinically the rest of the time.
Kara said: “I am very grateful for the opportunity to use my skills as a Freedom to Speak UP Guardian at the Trust.
“Empowering people to speak up is a great thing to be involved with. In my role as a FTSU Guardian, I would like to help people to speak up if something is wrong without fear of retribution. I try to support people as best I can and don’t want anyone to have to struggle.
“I would like to make the FTSU role more interactive and collaborative. I see it as part of my life’s role as a nurse to be able to promote positive experiences for people; to be a healer. We also need to support leaders to be the best leaders they can be.”
Our FTSU Guardians support colleagues to speak up when they feel that they are unable to do so by other routes. They also work proactively to support the Trust to tackle barriers to speaking up. Colleagues can speak up about anything that gets in the way of patient care, or that affects people’s working life.
When things go wrong, we all need to make sure that lessons are learned and that things are improved. If we think something might go wrong, it’s important that we feel able to speak up to stop potential harm. Even when things are good, but could be better, we should feel able to say something and be confident that our suggestion will be used as an opportunity for improvement.
Kara said: “As a FTSU Guardian, you have to take a step back and listen. Our role is to present all of the options for support. I will be a friendly face for colleagues and someone people can trust.
“My role is to assemble the facts for everyone to be able to come up with an objective way of resolving issues and learning from them.
“I think the main focus needs to be that we are here for our patients. Patients come to us with certain expectations that we will maintain professionalism and a high quality of care. We have a duty to be professional and resolve any issues so that they don’t have a negative impact on our patients.”
Kara will be supporting all staff and she has a wealth of experience of working with colleagues from around the world.
She said: “As someone who has moved here from the Philippines, I understand the pressures and challenges that can face colleagues from other countries. There is a need for additional support and training.
“In some ways I have already been unconsciously doing the job of FTSU Guardian. I have spoken with our Chief Executive, Aaron Cummins, about the support that colleagues from all over the world need and he was very open to hearing what I had to say. There can be many cultural and educational differences. Providing support reduces any unnecessary anxiety for colleagues from other countries. It is important that they know I am there to support them if any issues arise.”
Kara had various reasons for choosing to work in the UK and said her main reasons were that she highly valued the NHS and that she was keen to have the opportunity to live in the UK and become integrated as a British citizen.
She said: “I’m going to be doing clinical work and FTSU work which will give me ‘ears on the ground’ to hear from clinical staff and also bank staff.
“This will allow me to see what is actually happening in certain areas. I will be able to support colleagues and share the word about FTSU. It’s like customer service for staff! Every day I will be catering for their needs and, if necessary, giving them the confidence to speak up without fear of losing their job or work visa.
“People who speak up care and want to see a difference. I also want to ensure that colleagues get additional support from the Occupational Health Team if they need it. I have experienced issues myself, so I know how hard it can sometimes be to speak up, emotionally and psychologically.”
Kara is pleased that UHMBT has committed to being actively anti-racist and aspires to be ‘effortlessly inclusive’: “Racism does affect patient outcomes,” she said. “There is no place for racism in the NHS – you have to be a team player. Nobody is better than anyone else.”
Before joining UHMBT in 2021, Kara worked for the Office of the President of the Philippines, advising on procedures for safely reintroducing sports in the latter stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, many people who worked in sports in the Philippines during the pandemic lost their livelihoods and there weren’t effective vaccines. Kara created protocols to safely restart sports such as football, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and boxing in the country and helped a great many people in doing so.
In the Philippines Kara also worked for various organisations and the Government on campaigns against gender-based violence. Kara explained that much of this work involved sports as there was, and still is, a lot of bias against women and girls in the Philippines. This was called the ‘Veloxity Movement’ and it gave women and girls advice on how to tackle gender-based violence and ways in which to recognise signs of abuse.
Kara also worked for a charity organisation called ‘GABRIELA’ in the Philippines which helped and supported victims of domestic abuse and violence.
Kara said: “I worked for the part of the organisation that helped domestic abuse victims. I assisted women with applying for injunctions and supported them to deal with their emotions, and helped them to feel calm again.”
Away from her work in the Philippines, Kara was a Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestler, a boxing judge and MMA judge.
She said: “It was an outlet for me when I was at college and when I was older. It’s just you and the match. It helps you learn how to control your emotions.
“As I’m now here in England, I hope I might get to meet the famous heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury one day!”
Kara became a national officer for the Wrestling Association of the Philippines and she was a sports broadcaster on the ‘Slambook Sports’ channel.
Kara added: “I like working for the Trust and am glad that it is open to new thinking. I appreciate the opportunity to be a FTSU Guardian.
“My personal belief is that I always want to leave a place better than when I first found it.”
Lynne Wyre, Interim Chief Nursing Officer for UHMBT, said: “We are delighted to welcome Kara as a FTSU Guardian.
“With her valuable experience in the Philippines and as a Nurse, Midwife and Theatre Nurse, Kara is an amazing addition to our FTSU Team. I hope everyone will join me in warmly welcoming Kara as she starts her new role.”