Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current arrangements for NHS staff to express opinions about practices and treatments about which they have concerns.

The Government wants National Health Service staff to have the confidence to speak out and come forward if they have concerns. There are currently over 1,200 local Freedom to Speak Up Guardians across healthcare in England who provide a route for workers to express any concerns about the practices and treatments in their organisation. Over 133,000 cases have been reported to Guardians since the policy was establishment in 2016, and in 2023/24 79.8% of staff who received support from their Guardian and gave feedback said they would speak up again.

Despite this, the 2023 NHS staff survey results showed that only 50% felt that if they spoke up about something that concerned them, their organisation would address their concern. There is therefore a lot more to do before speaking up can be described as business as usual in the NHS.