Defend the Independence of Speaking Up. Defend Patient Safety.

The National Guardian’s Office (NGO) has been the foundation of a safe, open culture where NHS staff can speak up without fear. It provides national leadership, support, and training, and upholds the professional standards that give Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Guardians the confidence and authority to act. Above all, it safeguards the independence, credibility, and moral authority of the FTSU Guardian role.

That independence is not a luxury. It is essential.

Without it, the NHS risks dismantling the very framework of transparency and accountability that has taken years to build. We have seen the consequences of silence before. A culture of fear and suppression contributed directly to catastrophic failures, most painfully exposed at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and other public inquiries. Those lessons were learned through tragedy and they must not be ignored.

The Freedom to Speak Up Guardian role and NGO exist to protect patient safety and empower staff to raise concerns without fear of retribution. It represents a decisive shift toward openness and learning, where whistleblowers are recognised as essential contributors to safer care, not as risks to be managed.

Yet alarmingly, the very voices at the heart of this work were excluded.
The voices of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians , those who hear concerns daily, support frightened staff, and escalate risks that could harm patients  were not even sought before recommendations were made by Penny Dash. Decisions about the future of speaking up were taken without listening to those entrusted to make it work.

This exclusion runs counter to the core principles of the Freedom to Speak Up framework itself. How can the NHS claim to value listening, learning, and transparency while side-lining the very professionals whose role exists to protect those values?

The threat to independence is not hypothetical. It is real and measurable:

Over 75% of FTSU Guardians believe independence is critical to their ability to address safety concerns effectively.
65% of healthcare professionals report that fear of retaliation still deters them from speaking up.
These figures underline a stark reality: closing the National Guardian’s Office will not modernise the NHS, it will silence it.

To protect patients and uphold the integrity of the National Health Service, the independence of the Freedom to Speak Up framework must be protected and strengthened, not dismantled. Staff must have confidence that their concerns will be heard impartially, acted upon fairly, and never suppressed for organisational convenience.

We therefore call on the government and NHS leadership to:

Protect the autonomy of the National Guardian’s Office
Safeguard the independence of the FTSU Guardian role
Ensure that FTSU Guardians are meaningfully consulted in decisions that affect speaking up
✍️ Signing this petition is a powerful act.
It is a stand for transparency, accountability, and patient safety. Add your voice to protect the independence of speaking up in the National Health Service, before silence once again puts lives at risk.