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January 2022

Latest Freedom to Speak Up news and updates from the National Guardian’s Office

Welcome from the National Guardian

Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark

This new year has brought with it many challenges throughout the sector, and my thanks go to all of you for the work you are doing keeping us safe and supporting colleagues in these increasingly difficult circumstances.

I feel immensely privileged to start the new year as National Guardian.

The NHS has outlined its priorities for the year, with its first priority to be to “strengthen the compassionate and inclusive culture needed to deliver outstanding care”.

Supporting Freedom to Speak Up is essential to achieving this resilience. The ongoing pressures of the pandemic highlight how vital it is that everybody feels able to speak up, and that when they do, they are listened to and actions taken.

This year we look forward to the launch of the final Freedom to Speak Up e-learning module - Follow Up, for leaders. This module explores the benefits and drivers behind speaking up and how to use the opportunities Freedom to Speak Up brings for learning. It will be a helpful tool in support of this first priority.

The tenth priority is “to establish integrated care boards and collaborative system working”. The National Guardian’s Office is working to influence Freedom to Speak Up implementation at system level as well as in individual organisations.

I am looking forward to working together to improve the Speak Up, Listen Up, Follow Up behaviours and culture in the health sector and beyond.

Learning from case reviews

The National Guardian’s Office has carried out case reviews where we received information to suggest that speaking up had not been handled in accordance with good practice. Where we found that good practice had not been followed, we recommended remedial action.

We have collated recommendations from the nine case review reports and grouped them thematically. To help with gap analysis, we have included a tool which Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and others responsible for speaking up in their organisations can use to review arrangements and develop plans and actions for improvement.

This can be used be used, along with other guidance published on the NGO website, as a self-review tool to identify and improve gaps in organisations’ speaking up arrangements, for the benefit of workers, their organisations and the people they support.

Download the gap analysis tool

Follow Up: How leaders set the tone at Chesterfield

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust received a high commendation in the Freedom to Speak Up Organisation of the Year category at the 2021 HSJ Awards.

In this case study, you can read how the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, Abbey Harris, and the senior leadership team at Chesterfield are committed to using a Speak Up, Listen Up, Follow Up model to improve the experience for its workers.

Contacting the NGO

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for further updates. Or email enquiries@nationalguardianoffice.org.uk.

All enquiries will be acknowledged and we will aim to provide a full response within 20 working days.

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