Freedom to Speak Up Guardian

Job overview

At University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, we believe that speaking up can saves lives, improves experiences and helps us become a better place to work. We are looking for a compassionate and approachable Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Guardian to support colleagues across our organisation to raise concerns, share ideas and speak openly about issues that matter to them.

This is a unique and rewarding role for someone who is passionate about listening, building trust and creating positive change. Every day brings something different, from supporting an individual colleague through a difficult situation to helping leaders learn from concerns and improve services for our patients and staff.

As our FTSU Guardian, you will work independently and impartially, providing a safe and confidential route for colleagues to speak up. You will champion an open and inclusive culture where everyone feels heard, respected and valued.

Main duties of the job

In this role, you will play a key part in fostering a culture where colleagues feel safe, supported and empowered to speak up. Your responsibilities will include:

• Supporting colleagues who wish to speak up about concerns, ideas or experiences.
• Providing independent, impartial and confidential guidance.
• Working closely with leaders to ensure concerns are responded to appropriately.
• Identifying themes and insight from cases to drive organisational learning and improvement.
• Delivering training, awareness sessions and communications to promote a positive speaking up culture.
• Producing reports and presenting insights to senior leaders and committees.
• Supporting and developing our network of Freedom to Speak Up Champions across the Trust

Closing date:  26 July 2026

Interview date:  7 August 2026

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Guardian will operate impartially, independently and objectively whilst working with Trust leadership teams to support the organisation in becoming a more open and transparent place to work, where all staff are actively encouraged and enabled to speak up safely.

The FTSU Guardian will ensure speak up issues are used for Trust wide organisational learning and development and to protect patient safety and the quality of care.

The FTSU Guardian will ensure barriers to speaking up are addressed

The FTSU Guardian will manage the performance and direction of the Trust wide Freedom to Speak up function.

The FTSU Guardian will provide highly specialist advice and a speak-up consultancy service across the organisation to enable staff to speak up safely.

The FTSU Guardian will design and deliver specialist training programmes for all staff.

The FTSU Guardian will manage a diverse team of FTSU Champions offering them supervision and ensuring they play a meaningful role in the FTSU function for the Trust including signposting, supporting others to speak up and referring on to the Guardian

Please see attached Job description and Person Specification. To apply please click APPLY FOR THIS JOB – this link will take you to the TRAC Recruitment Site. You will need to register if you do not already have an account.

UHDB is committed to fair and transparent recruitment. We welcome authentic applications that reflect your own skills, experience and motivations for the role. While we understand that candidates may use AI tools for grammar, formatting or accessibility purposes, applications that appear to be substantially AI‑generated may be subject to additional review. If this applies to your submission, we will let you know and may ask for clarification. Please ensure your application accurately represents your experience and is written in your own words.

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click on the link to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship Skilled worker: Health and Care Visa | NHS Employers

Your application (for shortlisting purposes) is assessed based on the Person Specification in the job advert (below).