Freedom to Speak Up for Primary Care

Independent Guardian support for individual practices. 

Individual practices 

Every practice wants staff to feel safe speaking up about concerns, behaviour, workload or patient safety. However, in small, close-knit teams, speaking up isn't always easy - especially when concerns involve colleagues, partners or leadership.

GSL's primary care service gives your surgery instant access to an independent Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, alongside everything you need to embed speaking up as part of everyday practice live.

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Freedom to Speak Up matters in Primary Care

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Primary care teams are under intense pressure - workload, workforce shortages, rapid change and rising patient need. 

When staff don't feel able to speak up:

  • Issues stay hidden

  • Stress and burnout increase

  • Patient safety risks go unaddressed

  • Problems escalate rather than resolve.

Freedom to Speak Up helps create a culture where:

  • Concerns are raised early
  • People feel supported, not blamed
  • Learning replaces fear
  • Improvement becomes possible


Our Primary Care license makes this practical and proportionate for individual practices, without over-engineering or complexity. 

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What the primary care license gives your practice

Independent Freedom to Speak Up Guardians

Your team has direct access to experienced, impartial Guardians who:

  • Listen without judgement
  • Provide confidential support
  • Help colleagues explore options
  • Escalate concerns on their behalf if requested

Guardians are available 24/7, 365 days a year by phone or email. So, no one carries a concern alone. 

 

A ready-to-use Primary Care Freedom to Speak Up policy

You'll receive a Freedom to Speak Up policy, written specifically for primary care, aligned to best practice and national expectations. 

This policy:

  • Clearly explains what staff can speak up about 
  • Sets out internal and external routes 
  • Covers confidentiality and anonymity
  • Defines what staff can expect when they speak up.

No drafting from scratch. No uncertainty about compliance. 

 

Select Another Service

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Dialogue training

Empower your team to harness valuable dialogue into opportunities for learning, development and improvement.

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Standards review

Assess your culture for openness by the people who have delivered culture changes to over 300 organisations.

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Professional services

We believe every organisation is unique and can tailor services to your specific requirements.

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Guardians for NHS trusts

Trusts are complex organisations where every worker is under pressure. Our specialist Guardians provide an additional route to speak up.

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Systems approach

Unite an entire system with one policy and one process. We deliver scalability, consistency and system-wide improvement.

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Primary care

This service is designed for individual primary care sites that want to achieve NHS England's independent Guardian guidance.

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