Responding to the Care Quality Commission State of Care Report 2025, Beth Carter, Interim Director of Operations and Strategy for the National Guardian’s Office, said:
“The CQC State of Care 2025 report highlights the ongoing pressures facing health and social care services across England. Our Speaking Up data and reviews reflect many of the same challenges identified by the CQC.
“It is particularly concerning to see that, while most midwives feel able to report errors, near misses or incidents (90.7%), only around half are confident that their concerns will lead to action (55.1%). We know that we must strengthen learning cultures across the health service so that, when something does go wrong, lessons can be learned. This is essential to reduce the fear of futility that prevents many workers from speaking up.
“This gap between raising concerns and seeing change is a key safety risk. Simply put, workers will only speak up when they believe their actions will make a difference. It is vital that staff continue to speak up as the ten-year health plan is implemented – and Freedom to Speak Up guardians continue to provide an essential route for healthcare workers to do so during this time.”