A national guardian for the NHS: consultation response

Key messages

• NHS Providers and our member NHS foundation trusts and trusts have consistently championed the need for provider boards to retain the autonomy and flexibility to develop strong cultures of openness and transparency within their organisations and amongst their staff.  We therefore welcome CQC’s focus on developing a National Guardian role that will seek to reinforce local board autonomy for driving open and transparent cultures within their organisations and not undermine or interfere in existing local processes. 

• We also welcome CQC’s acknowledgement that the role of the National Guardian must be complementary and not duplicative of the significant measures and regulatory interventions already introduced to increase transparency and support trusts’ responsiveness to staff concerns.
  
  
• We would be happy to work with our members and the central bodies to ensure that the new National Guardian’s role is understood across our membership, does not unduly add additional administrative and regulatory burden on providers, and to assist with identifying and sharing good practice across NHS providers with regard to empowering staff, developing cultures of transparency and distilling the learning from all feedback, complaints and concerns.