Annual NHS Staff Survey 2007

The results of the national survey of just under 156,000 NHS staff in England carried out by the Healthcare Commission were released today.  The survey included responses from 247 staff from Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The survey enables Moorfields to benchmark itself against other similar NHS organisations – acute specialist trusts - and the NHS as a whole, on a range of measures of staff satisfaction and opinions.

In seven of the 26 indicators in the survey, Moorfields staff gave the Trust the thumbs up, putting it in the top 20% of acute specialist trusts in England for quality of work life balance; job-relevant training, learning and development; lower numbers of staff having to work extra hours; level work pressure; and the percentages of staff witnessing and reporting potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents.

In a further eight indicators, the Trust was better than average in comparison with other acute specialist trusts for the extent of positive feeling within the organisation relating to patient care, staff involvement, innovation and communication, as well as for the availability of hand-washing materials; low levels of work related stress, and staff belief that appraisal reviews were well structured.

According to the Healthcare Commission, 70% of respondents from Moorfields said they had taken advantage of at least one of the flexible working options offered by the Trust, including flexi-time, part-time, working from home, annualised hours, and working during school term-time only.  80% of respondents said they had received training or learning development within the Trust that had enabled them to perform their jobs better, and stay up to date with professional requirements.

However, there were some outcomes that need to be addressed by the Trust on behalf of its staff.  Whilst the survey put Moorfields above average against other acute specialist trusts for low number of staff experiencing physical violence from patients and relatives (3%), or harassment, bullying or abuse from other staff (1%), and showed that staff believe that the Trust’s robust zero-tolerance policy is effective, 25% of respondents from Moorfields said they had still experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from patients, service users or relatives in the past.  This remains completely unacceptable.

Additional areas of concern that the Trust will be actively working with staff to address included a need to improve the level of staff who had agreed personal development plans, been appraised or had an appraisal review and the need for clearer objectives for teams working at Moorfields.

The Healthcare Commission staff survey results are welcomed by the Trust as a useful method of assessing key strengths and weaknesses and an indication of those areas where improvements could and should be made in order to continue improving the working lives of Moorfields staff. 

ENDS

For further press information:
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Beverley Bailey020 7566 2424 press.office@moorfields.nhs.uk

Notes for editors:
For full details of this year’s survey, go to:
http://www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/healthcareproviders/nationalfindings/surveys/staffsurveys/2007nhsstaffsurvey.cfm