Shropshire hospital staff survey is ‘really depressing’ - health boss
Engaging with staff and sharing what is being done to address concerns raised in a survey is crucial to improving the culture at Shropshire’s hospitals, its workforce director has said.
The 2018 NHS Staff Survey results revealed serious concerns from workers over the ‘safety culture’ at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) and it came in the bottom four trusts in the country for staff engagement.
The trust is developing a six-month plan to improve staff morale.
Ben Reid, chair of the trust, told a meeting of SaTH’s board yesterday that it was “really depressing” how some staff viewed the organisation.
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He asked what would change this year to see an improvement in the situation.
Victoria Rankin, workforce director, said: "Our staff survey results do not represent what we want for people within the organisation.
"We want to concentrate on staff engagement.
"We have a plan for this year around how we are going to respond to the staff survey."
She said the biggest area of focus needed to be sharing with staff what the trust was doing to resolve issues and improve situations. She said staff wanted confidence to speak out, an open and transparent organisation and a culture where every role counts.
The trust also aims to conduct surveys before the next NHS staff survey to find out how things are progressing.
Feedback
Chris Weiner, chairman of the workforce committee, told the board it is also important to ensure the trust has the right levels of staff employed across the organisation.
Within the six-month plan are proposals for breakfast meetings with bosses and new procedures including a ‘feedback app’ in which they will ask workers ‘how was work today?’.
The full plan will be put before the board next month and it will be monitored monthly through the workforce committee.
The plan has been developed using the staff survey results, data from the Care Quality Commission and whistleblower feedback.
A series of staff focus groups have also been carried out.
The board was also updated on the trust's improvement plan following its 'inadequate' rating by the CQC last year, when it was placed into special measures.
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Members were told that 'root-cause' issues have been identified and once they have been addressed there will be continuous monitoring to make sure the problems do not return.
Action has also been taken to improve the culture within Wrekin midwife-led unit, according to a report from the maternity oversight committee, which was put before the board.
It said the actions were 'well received' and it is planned that the cultural improvement measures will be rolled out across the whole of maternity services.
