Confidential Staff Liaison and Freedom To Speak Up Services

NHS Highland requires the provision of Confidential Staff Liaison and Freedom to Speak up Services for NHS staff.

NHS Highland have been providing a Guardian / Speak up service since 2020, as recommended in the Sturrock review, this is to provide an independent channel for colleague concerns to be raised where other channels have not worked or cannot be used. This service was aligned to include the National Whistleblowing standards in NHS Highland also in 2020.

The market was reviewed and the only established provider of this service that we have identified with appropriate and relevant NHS specific experience is The Guardian Service. The Guardian Service has been working with NHS Highland for the past three years and NHS Highland would like to continue to provide this service to its employees for a further 12 months with the option to extend for up to another 12 months.