Staff survey results show improving staff experience

Staff experience at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) continues to improve, according to the results of the 2016 NHS National Staff Survey which is published today.

Feedback from staff showed big improvements in a number of areas, when compared to the previous year’s results:

 Staff confidence and security in reporting unsafe clinical practice (percentage has gone up)
 Percentage of staff attending work in the last three months despite feeling unwell because they felt pressure from their manager, colleagues or themselves (percentage has gone down)
 Percentage of staff / colleagues reporting most recent experience of harassment, bullying or abuse (percentage has gone up)

Overall, 25% of the Trust’s key findings were in the best 20% of Trust’s nationally; double the percentage from last year. These included:
 Staff appraised in last 12 months
 Staff experiencing discrimination in the last 12 months (percentage has gone down)
 Fairness and effectiveness of procedures for reporting errors, near misses and incidents
 Opportunities for flexible working patterns
 Effective use of patient/service user feedback
 Reporting most recent experience of violence at work

The survey also highlighted areas where the Trust needed to make further improvements, including:
 Quality of appraisals
 Quality of non-mandatory training, learning or development
 Support from immediate managers

David Wilkinson, Director of Workforce and Organisational Development, UHMBT, said: “We are really pleased that we have seen improvements in the staff survey results, which come a month after the Care Quality Commission rated the Trust as ‘Good’ overall and highlighting the huge cultural change at UHMBT.

“From the survey results, it is great news that there has been such an increase in staff feeling confident and secure in reporting unsafe clinical practice, and a 34% increase in staff reporting any experiences of bullying and harassment (where the higher the score the better).

“We have been creating a cultural shift where all staff, volunteers, students and governors feel able to raise any issues or concerns and know that they will be addressed confidentially, swiftly, and in line with good practice. Last year we became the first Trust in the country to launch a Freedom to Speak up App, this was on the back of appointing our first-ever Freedom to Speak up Guardian in July 2015.

“There is still a lot of work to do and this survey reflects where we as a Trust need to improve. We have already started working with our learning and development department to help improve the quality of appraisals, non-mandatory training and other learning options available.

“I’d like to thank all the staff that took the time to respond to the survey. It is one of a number of important methods we use to gauge what it is like to work in our hospitals – what we are doing right and where we need to do some more work. The opinions of those working in our hospitals are vital and really do make a difference.”

The NHS National Survey is carried out in every NHS Trust in the country and collects the views of a number of randomly selected staff about working in their NHS organisation. Data is used to improve local working conditions for staff, and ultimately to improve patient care. All responses are completely confidential to encourage staff to be completely open and honest in their answers.

The full UHMBT report can be viewed on the NHS Staff Survey website.