NHS Staff Survey 2013 – Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) 2nd worst performing mental health trust in England – official

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These results are appalling. They are not only bottom quartile, using the quartile methods so beloved of the Operations Director, they are bottom quartile of the bottom quartile, worst of the worst.

Some of the NSFT Board and ‘leadership team’ like to blame this campaign for appalling staff morale. This survey was carried out before our campaign even started so their causality and sense of responsibility is all wrong. Their ‘leadership’, ‘radical redesign’, hubris, incompetence and collaboration in massive cuts is responsible.

  • Overall staff engagement – NSFT is second worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England – only Cambridge & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, now home to ‘radical redesign’ initiator Aidan Thomas, does worse
  • Staff motivation at work – NSFT is worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Staff recommendation of trust as a place to work or to receive treatment – Second worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England – only Cambridge & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, now home to ‘radical redesign’ initiator Aidan Thomas, does worse. Spotting a pattern?
  • Job satisfaction – NSFT is worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Staff reporting good communication between senior management and staff – 2nd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff – 2nd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Fairness and effectiveness of procedures for reporting errors, near misses and incidents – 3rd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Percentage of staff witnessing potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents in last month – Worst of 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Percentage of staff suffering work related stress in last 12 months – 4th worst of 57 mental health trusts in England. Cambridge & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, now home to ‘radical redesign’ initiator Aidan Thomas, does worse. Spotting a pattern?
  • Support from immediate managers – 2nd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Effective team working – 3rd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Work pressure felt by staff – 3rd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England
  • Staff feeling satisfied with the quality of work and patient care they are able to deliver – 2nd worst of the 57 mental health trusts in England. Jointly with Cambridge & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, now home to ‘radical redesign’ initiator Aidan Thomas. Spotting a pattern?

8 thoughts on “NHS Staff Survey 2013 – Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) 2nd worst performing mental health trust in England – official”

  1. In the Chief Exec’s email to announce the results of the survey, as usual he only talked about the highlights, it was a surprisingly long email, but he mentioned how please he was that NSFT was in the top 20% for staff receiving appraisals. What he failed to mention was that we were in the worst 20% for having well structured appraisals -so the Trust is pushing everyone through an appraisal system that doesn’t work for anyone!

    Interestingly I googled the results and saw quite a few local news features where Chief Exec’s were apologising to the staff in their trusts for their appalling results, clearly no sign of this happening at NSFT! There is an arrogance and complacency here about these results that has been evident every year with the publication of these results, Mid Staffs anyone?

  2. At this rate NSFT will no longer have any staff other than managers, who the majority have not worked on the front line of services or even been mental health trained. I joined over 10 years ago and have been dismayed, horrified and saddened by the changes for the worst. I am lost for any more words…

  3. Staff in community teams are buckling under the weight of too large caseloads; I’m worried that if the Trust does not acknowledge this crisis soon the damage to staff numbers and staff morale will be irreperable.

  4. The results from the NHS staff surveys for the last 3 years show a deeply worrying trend. Last year Andrew Hopkins got away with saying that he and the board were ‘pleased with the results’ when all the indicators already pointed towards a disengaged and disillusioned workforce. Mental Health Services rely almost entirely on the ability of their clinicians to engage with those who seek help and contain their distress whilst giving them the means to cope again as the crisis subsides. A distressed workforce will not be able to do well with this emotionally challenging work, especially not under increasing pressure of demand.
    There have been many decisions made by the NSFT board and a handful of clinicians, which are highly questionable. The unnecessarily destructive and irresponsible way the trust has treated those who provide the service, is in my view the most serious mistake and a major management failure.
    All the evidence about excellence in the NHS shows, that strong and well functioning teams with good leadership are able to find surprising and creative solutions to meet the challenges they face. Teams in NSFT have been almost systematically put under enormous pressure by a deeply flawed process. Splitting professions, allowing maximum confusion and uncertainty for prolonged periods of time, repeated job insecurity, complete disregard for existing working relationships and unbelievable U turns….. the list could go on. Add to this a middle management that is out of their depth and at times resorts to bullying tactics to survive and nothing in the 2013/4 Survey will surprise you.
    But maybe this is an unofficial part of the strategy? Maybe the trust just accepts, that the current working environment is unworkable for many and reckons that this will help with the required natural wastage and the ‘need’ to fill the posts with enthusiastic and cheaper new staff, who have not been part of the ‘history’ and therefore are more able to embrace the systems as they stand. The large numbers of highly trained and experienced clinicians who have left in the last 24 months without any concern or even acknowledgement expressed by the trust makes the above scenario not as cynical as it sounds.

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