The latest NHS staff survey shows high ratings at Northern Devon Healthcare Trust for personal appraisals and training – two of the critical elements in equipping employees to do their jobs well.
Ratings are also high for staff who say they have interesting jobs, who feel supported by their managers and who feel they can contribute towards improvements.
But staff also highlight the hazards of work-related stress and of violence and aggression from patients and relatives.
The 2009 survey, covering 40 questions about experience at work, was returned by 472 Trust staff. Similar work was carried out across the country.
The results for each question are compared with previous years and with other trusts, so trends can be followed and action taken.
Overall, staff ranked Northern Devon among the best 20% of trusts in 12 areas:
- Feeling valued by colleagues
- Having an interesting job
- Working in well-structured teams
- Having appraisals
- Having appraisals with personal development plans
- Getting support from immediate managers
- Having health and safety training
- Having equality and diversity training
- Feeling pressurised to go to work when feeling unwell
- Feeling able to contribute towards improvements at work
- Experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other staff
- Feeling that the Trust is acting effectively on violence and harassment
It was also better than average in a further seven areas, including the availability of handwash materials, the uptake of flexible working options, overall job satisfaction and numbers of staff suffering work-related injuries.
The Trust was average in 11 areas, and below average in areas such as work pressure, witnessing of incidents, communication with senior managers and motivation.
Staff ranked Northern Devon in the bottom 20% of trusts for:
- Feeling their role made a difference to patients
- Work-related stress
- Understanding their role
- Experiencing physical violence from patients/relatives (though feeling that the Trust was acting effectively on violence and aggression)
The Trust is now working on plans to build on the positives and tackle the negatives.
Maureen Bignell, the Trust’s Director of Personnel and Development, said: “It’s good to see that we compare pretty well with other trusts around the country, especially in areas like appraisal and training where we have had a real push over the past year or so.
“These sorts of things sound dry and technical, but they are vital to making sure patients get the best-possible care.
“Our big task now is to work on areas such as stress at work and violence from patients. We’re glad that staff feel we’re taking effective action on this, but clearly there’s more to do.”
