The National Guardian’s Office and the role of the Freedom To Speak Up Guardian were created in response to recommendations made in Sir Robert Francis QC’s report Freedom To Speak Up, 2015.  These recommendations were made as Sir Robert found that NHS culture did not always encourage or support workers to speak up and that patients and workers suffered as a result.

When something goes wrong or has the potential to go wrong, or if someone is prevented from doing their job properly, speaking up can feel very daunting.  Similarly it can feel very hard to speak out if someone considers there is a likelihood of harm or potential for harm.  Of course sometimes members of staff might want to speak about something positive : a great idea or a way of doing something better.  The Freedom To Speak Up framework ensures that there is always someone trusted to speak to – and they can be spoken to anonymously, confidentially or openly.

There are now over 900 guardian in the NHS and independent sector organisations, national bodies and elsewhere that ensure workers can speak about anything impacting their ability to do their job. 

Patient Care Locally believes that supporting this framework and allowing its staff to have a safe, high quality, consistent and supportive response to speaking up demonstrates a commitment to improving the life of healthcare workers and the service experienced by patients.