The year of the pandemic: A summary of speaking up to Freedom to Speak Up Guardians
Speaking Up Data report for 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021
The Year of the Pandemic: A Summary of Speaking Up to Freedom to Speak Up Guardians (1 April 2020 - 31 March 2021)
On a quarterly basis, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians are expected to share non-identifiable information with the National Guardian’s Office about the speaking up cases raised with them. This information provides invaluable insight into the implementation of Freedom to Speak Up.
The reconciled data is used to compile a year-end report reflecting on trends and themes.
20,388 cases brought to Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in 2020/21
Latest figures
This shows the latest quarter of unreconciled data reported to the NGO in 2021/22, as well as the reconciled data from the 2020/21 collection period.
Annual Speaking Up Data Reports
These reports reflect trends and themes from the speaking up data in previous years.
- Guardians received over 16,000 speaking up cases in 2019/20 – an increase of 32% compared to the previous year. This is nearly half of the 35,000 cases raised with guardians since we started collecting data in 2017/18.
- 12,244 cases were raised to Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in trusts and Foundation trusts between 1st April 2018 and 31st March 2019 – 73% higher than that raised the previous year.
- For the first year in which we collected data – 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 – 7,087 cases were raised to Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in NHS trusts and foundation trusts
Why is speaking up data important?
The data Freedom to Speak Up Guardians submit provides invaluable insight into the implementation of the Freedom to Speak Up.
The data also helps provide confidence – and assists in learning and improvement – for the colleagues and organisations they support, and other Freedom to Speak Up Guardians.
NHS England and Improvement use this data, along with other indicators and intelligence, to inform their thinking around where to offer improvement support in relation to Freedom to Speak Up.
NHS E/I also upload this information to the Model Health System. Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and leaders can use this service to build a more holistic picture of their organisation’s speaking up culture.
Upcoming dates for data submissions
Q4 (2021/22): Opens Monday 4 April 2022 and closes Wednesday 18 May 2022
Q1 (2022/23): Opens Monday 11 July 2022 and closes Friday 5 August 2022
Q2 (2022/23): Opens Monday 10 October 2022 and closes Monday 31 October 2022
Q3 (2022/23): Opens Monday 9 January 2023 and closes Monday 30 January 2023
Q4 (2022/23): Opens Monday 10 April 2023 and closes Tuesday 2 May 2023
Guardians will be able to add or amend data from 2021/22 during the reconciliation period, which will run alongside the Q4 window.
Portal
Case Study
The use of data played a major role in Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust ’s efforts to improve their speaking up culture as Matt Asbrey, former Freedom to Speak Up Guardian at NHFT explains.
By triangulating the data provided from speaking up cases raised, pulse surveys and the results of the NHS National Staff Survey, Matt was able to better understand the experience of workers and identify areas for learning and improvement.
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