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 term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The appointment of a National Guardian was a recommendation by Sir Robert Francis QC in the 2015 Freedom to Speak Up Review which investigated

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

detriment and barriers in the NHS in

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

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

. 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 providers in England. It ...

NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, 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 si ...

and NHS Improvement.

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, (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 the first Freedom to Speak Up National Guardian. Career ...

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 1,200 Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in over 700 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 ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the s ...

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 wo ...

sector.

References

{{reflist Organisations based in England National Health Service (England)