FTSU Index

The NHS Staff Survey has undergone significant changes – in line with the People Plan. As a result, some of the questions which comprised the FTSU Index have been dropped. In light of this, the National Guardian’s Office will no longer be publishing the FTSU Index.

The National Guardian’s Office continues to work together with colleagues from NHS England and Improvement on including speaking up questions in the NHS Staff Survey.

Last year’s survey included a new question asking whether workers feel safe to speak up about anything that concerns them in their organisation. The question remains in this year’s survey and is accompanied by a new follow-up question: ‘If I spoke up about something that concerned me, I am confident my organisation would address my concern.’

The National Guardian’s Office welcomes the inclusion of these questions regarding perceptions of speaking up, and invites all organisations to consider using this question as an indicator of their speaking up culture and arrangements.

Instead of publishing the FTSU Index, the National Guardian’s Office will look at the results of these questions and others in the NHS Staff Survey as part of a broader and more holistic view of the speaking up landscape in healthcare. Additionally, the National Guardian’s Office is working with colleagues to present the results of this year’s NHS Staff Survey on the Model Health System, so Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in trusts will be able to use this tool to look at results from the survey in the same way they were able to do so with the FTSU Index.