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STAFF WELFARE
316 NHS organisations, garnering 423,000 staff responses, found: l 80% of frontline NHS say they are able to do their job to a standard they are personally pleased with.
l 90% of staff say their job makes a difference for patients.
l 92% of staff feel trusted to do their jobs.
Across 32 key findings, over 80% were more positive than last year. Overall staff engagement has risen from 3.68 out of five in 2012 up to 3.79 out of five last year. Seventy five per cent of staff say they are able to make suggestions to improve the work of their team and 90% of staff now feel their organisation takes positive action on health and wellbeing.
The percentage of staff witnessing potentially harmful incidents is at its lowest in five years. At the same time, the percentage of staff able to report those concerns is at its highest in six years. Feeling unwell, as a result of work-related stress, is at its lowest reported level in five years, but still stands at 36.7%, while 11.9% of staff say they have experienced discrimination at work, a figure which has fluctuated around that same level over the past five years. Fifteen per cent of staff report they have experienced physical violence from patients, relatives or members of the public – unchanged since 2012.7
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, commented: “Perhaps surprisingly given the well understood pressures, it’s encouraging to see that frontline NHS staff say their experience at work continues to improve, with overall employee engagement scores at a five year high. There’s still much to be done to ensure staff are properly supported, and local NHS employers are now being incentivised to better support the health and wellbeing of their own staff.” Neil Churchill, director of patient experience at NHS England, said: “Staff are working extremely hard to put patients first and it is vital that we support them effectively. These results show that the NHS is acting on what both patients and staff say and improving, as a result, although we also have to be alert to stress, discrimination and harassment. NHS Employers can now build on the progress they have made, supporting our staff to provide the best possible care for patients.” However, a number of other reports indicate that staff satisfaction is at a low ebb. The NHS is also facing issues with staff retention, as well as recruitment into various areas of healthcare employment. A survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), for example, has found that only one in four substantive consultant physicians in the UK feel valued by the hospital in which they work. The key findings from the wellbeing survey, undertaken by the RCP’s Medical Workforce Unit, show that, more than 50% of the time, 78% of consultants felt valued by patients and 70% by colleagues/staff,
SEPTEMBER 2017
but only 26% felt valued by the hospital. Only 35% of consultants felt fulfilled more than 50% of the time.8 In July this year, a report from The Point
of Care Foundation also argued that the “hard truths learned through the Francis Inquiry are in danger of being forgotten in the light of unprecedented, continuing, and seemingly endless service pressures.”9 Behind Closed Doors called on organisations to prioritise staff experience and strengthen efforts to protect staff from stress and burnout. The briefing presents evidence on current pressures and staff experience: l From 2004-16, the number of attendances at A&E increased by 18%, from 12.7 million to 15 million.
l Only one in two staff feel their NHS employer values them and their work.
l Two per cent of health and social care staff suffer work-related stress anxiety and depression in the NHS compared to around 1.2% of the overall British workforce.
The Point of Care Foundation commented that it wants to see every patient treated with kindness, dignity and respect all the time, but “in an environment in which staff themselves don’t feel cared about, it is hard to deliver personalised care. A positive staff experience is fundamental if staff are expected to be at their best with patients.” The briefing makes recommendations that focus on support for bottom-up initiatives that acknowledge the intrinsic motivations
that staff feel to care for patients, and for actions at every level of the NHS to enable staff to be at their best with patients.
Recommendations for frontline staff
The report recommends that staff: l Look after themselves, pay attention to their own and their colleagues’ wellbeing, alert their managers to pressures that can be alleviated, and let them know when they need support.
l Actively use their voice to raise concerns about quality of care, safety and patients’ experiences where necessary.
l Contribute ideas and insights to improve patients’ and families’ experience of care and take responsibility for acting on them.
l Be aware of themselves as ‘on-stage’ when they are within sight of patients, and remember to take the time to introduce themselves by name and make that human connection.
l Honour the fact that patients and carers know what matters most to them, make time to listen to them and ensure that they have the opportunity to influence the way their care is delivered.
Recommendations for leaders of NHS organisations
The report recommends that leaders of NHS organisations: l Recognise that healthcare staff are highly motivated by altruism and the desire to care for patients and equip and enable line managers to create environments that enable them to be satisfied with their contribution.
l Make psychosocial support systemically available to staff across the organisation.
l Spend time with staff and patients at the point of care, observing the delivery of care and understanding fully the nature of the operational problems that prevent staff from being at their best with patients.
l Create a listening and learning culture, by inviting frontline staff to talk to them about their insights and ideas for improvement, valuing the ideas that are generated, and acting upon them.
l Build capacity within the organisation to use patient-focused tools and techniques to improve the quality of care, giving frontline teams the authority and responsibility for improving patients’ and families’ care experiences.
Jocelyn Cornwell, chief executive of The Point of Care Foundation, said: “When we published Staff Care in 2014, we highlighted the importance of prioritising staff experience because how staff feel at work shapes patients’ experience of care. While it is positive that most NHS Trusts now have strategies to engage their staff, there is patchy evidence of their effectiveness. In the face of increasing pressures, it is vital that organisations take visible action which demonstrates their commitment to listening to staff.
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