The National Guardian expresses concern over potential patient safety if the concerns of NHS workers are not addressed.

New Report Reveals Concerning Decline in Workers’ Confidence to Speak Up in NHS

24 July 2024 – The National Guardian’s Office has released its analysis of the 2023 NHS Staff Survey, shedding light on the state of speaking up within the healthcare system. The report, published on Wednesday 24 July, shows a concerning decline in workers’ confidence to raise concerns about unsafe clinical practices.

According to the analysis, this is the second consecutive year that workers have expressed a lack of security in speaking up about unsafe clinical practices. While there has been a slight improvement in confidence to speak up about general concerns, the survey reveals a five-year low in the number of respondents who feel secure raising concerns about unsafe clinical practice.

One of the most alarming findings is the decline in confidence among medical professionals to raise clinical safety concerns. The report shows a decrease of around six percentage points since 2021, with only 69.4% of respondents feeling confident in speaking up about clinical safety in 2023 compared to 75.1% in 2021. This decline has been observed among medics at all stages of their career, including those in training and consultants.

Despite these concerning results, there has been a slight improvement in the overall Freedom to Speak Up score, which measures workers’ confidence in speaking up. The score remained stable at 6.46 this year, a slight improvement from 2022’s score of 6.44. This score is based on two sets of questions relating to raising and addressing concerns about unsafe clinical practice and anything of concern.

While there has been some progress since the 2015 Freedom to Speak Up Review and resulting actions, these latest findings continue the downward trend in workers’ confidence to speak up since the start of the pandemic. However, the report also highlights an increase in the number of cases being raised with Freedom to Speak Up guardians, suggesting that other speaking up routes are not being utilized effectively or trusted by workers.

In response to these concerning results, Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark, National Guardian for the NHS, stated, “This deterioration in confidence has implications for patient safety. These figures must focus the minds of those who lead healthcare organizations. If your people feel they cannot speak up about matters affecting patient care, or if they do, nothing will happen, how can you be assured that you are delivering your best for patients?”

Dr Chidgey-Clark also emphasized the importance of creating a positive experience for workers who do speak up, in order to encourage a change in the conversation around speaking up in healthcare. She concluded, “The NHS may be broken, but by listening to our people, we can begin to fix it.”

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact comms@nationalguardianoffice.org.uk.

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