The Annual Report of the National Guardian for the NHS is today (6 March 2025) laid before Parliament, highlighting the work of Freedom to Speak Up guardians and the National Guardian’s Office. The report also shares learning which indicates that more work is needed for speaking up to be described as business as usual in the healthcare sector in England.
The laying of the report was a commitment called for by the Secretary of State in his response to the events at Gosport War Memorial Hospital as a means of holding the government to account on supporting the fostering of an open culture in the healthcare sector in England.
In her foreword to the report, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health, Baroness Merron, said:
“There is more work to do to create a culture in which workers feel safe to speak up and where managers and senior leaders welcome speaking up and are ready to listen and act on what they hear. Despite this Guardians are continuing to provide vital support to workers across the NHS, hospices, and the independent sector and I am very grateful for their work.
“From the outset, this government has been clear: we will not tolerate NHS managers who silence whistleblowers. It is hugely important that to change the culture in the NHS, NHS staff have the confidence to speak out and come forward if they have concerns.”
Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark, National Guardian for the NHS, said:
“It is an honour to share the work of the National Guardian’s Office and Freedom to Speak Up guardians in this Annual Report. This year, the ability of workers to feel confident to speak up has been at the forefront of the news, as the trial of the nurse Lucy Letby has highlighted. Concerns about babies’ safety were first raised in 2016, when the Freedom to Speak Up Review recommendations were beginning to be implemented, and although we have seen much improvement since then, there remains so much more to be done.”