The National Guardian's Office is an independent, non-statutory body with the remit to lead culture change in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The appointment of a National Guardian was a recommendation by Sir Robert Francis QC in the 2015

Freedom to Speak Up Review The Freedom to Speak Up Review was a review into whistleblowing in the NHS in England. It was announced on 24 June 2014 and it was chaired by Sir Robert Francis. The review was originally expected to report in November 2014 but took longer because ...

which investigated

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

detriment and barriers in the NHS in

. The

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

's mission is to make speaking up becomes "business as usual" in

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

. The NGO uses the term "speaking up" rather than whistleblowing to support healthcare workers to raise ideas for improvement as well as concerns. It defines speaking up as "anything that gets in the way of patient care, or that affects your working life". The office is sponsored by the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

and

NHS Improvement NHS Improvement (NHSI) was a non-departmental body in England, responsible for overseeing the National Health Service's foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It supported providers to ...

National Guardian for the NHS

Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark was announced as the third National Guardian for Freedom to Speak Up on 11 November 2021. She succeeded Dr Henrietta Hughes OBE, who was appointed in July 2016. Dr Hughes stepped down after five years in post in September 2021 The first Freedom to Speak Up National Guardian for the NHS was

Eileen Sills Dame Eileen Sills, DBE FRCN (born June 1962) is the Chief Nurse, Director of Patient Experience and Infection Control and a member of the board at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. She was also, briefly, the first Freedom to Speak Up Nat ...

who resigned two months after being appointed, citing insufficient time to combine the role with her other work.

National Guardian's Office

The National Guardian's Office trains and supports a network of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians throughout the healthcare sector in England. Its remit also includes advising and challenging the healthcare system by describing and sharing good practice and reviewing the way that speaking up is handled. In response to the report from the Gosport Independent Panel looking into the deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, the National Guardian is required to "publish an independent, annual report to be laid before Parliament to showcase best practice, hold the Government and the system to account and advocate for change."

Freedom to Speak Up Guardians

Freedom to Speak Up Guardians provide an alternative route to support workers to speak up about patient safety issues or workplace matters. There are over 700 Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in over 400 organisations in the NHS and independent sector organisations, national bodies and elsewhere in England. Freedom to Speak Up Guardians are appointed by the organisation that they support and are required to abide by the guidance issued by the NGO. As well as supporting workers, part of their role is to work proactively within their organisation to tackle any barriers to speaking up. In 2020–21, over 20,000 cases were raised with Freedom to Speak Up Guardians - including nearly 6,000 by nurses and midwives. In December 2021, the UK's

Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwis ...

announced plans to explore ways in which Freedom to Speak up Guardians could be introduced in the

social care Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

sector.

References

{{reflist Non-governmental organizations