Yet again, the NHS Staff Survey results are appalling.
The extremely expensive Comms Department at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) will try to spin these results, just as it did with the most recent CQC inspection which found that mental health services were unsafe, that NSFT doesn’t have enough doctors, staff and beds and that the number of deaths is high. If you were in the audience at the NSFT AGM, you wouldn’t have learnt any of this from the slick presentations made by the NSFT Chief Executive, Michael Scott, and the NSFT Director of Nursing, Jane Sayer. We imagine NSFT’s press releases and Michael’s Misleading Message will be similarly ‘informative’ today.
Here are the ‘highlights’ of NSFT’s ‘improved’ performance:
- Percentage of staff appraised in the last twelve months – worst of 28 mental health trusts in England
- Percentage of staff agreeing that their role makes a difference to patients / service users – 2nd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Staff motivation at work – NSFT is 2nd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Quality of appraisals – 2nd worst of 28 mental health trusts in England
- Overall staff engagement – NSFT is 3rd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Staff recommendation of trust as a place to work or to receive treatment – 3rd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Staff feeling satisfied with the quality of work and patient care they are able to deliver – 3rd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Percentage of staff able to contribute towards improvements at work – 3rd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Staff satisfaction with resourcing and support – 3rd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Support from immediate managers – 3rd worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Staff satisfaction with level of responsibility and involvement – 3rd worst of 28 mental health trusts in England
- Recognition and value of staff by managers and the organisation – 4th worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Fairness and effectiveness of procedures for reporting errors, near misses and incidents – 4th worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Effective use of patient / service user feedback – 4th worst of the 28 mental health trusts in England
- Percentage of staff suffering work related stress in last 12 months – 4th worst of 28 mental health trusts in England
- Staff confidence and security in reporting unsafe clinical practice – 4th worst of 28 mental health trusts in England
These are the NHS Staff Survey graphs comparing NSFT with other mental health trusts:
The only things that aren’t below average at NSFT are Michael Scott’s £175,000 salary and his £35,000 pay rise.
So much for Putting People First and the incredible £107,000 April Strategy LLP charged for it. It would have been better and cheaper for each member of the Board to have bought this.
Three years ago, we told Board members that to restore staff morale and public confidence, it had to:
- outline in detail what went wrong at NSFT, who was responsible and the implications for NSFT’s finances and services;
- ensure that all those responsible apologised directly and sincerely;
- provide a clear plan to put things right.
These recommendations have not been fully implemented. The disastrous staff survey results are the consequence of this cowardice.
Instead, NSFT spends hundreds of thousands of pounds on lawyers, management consultants and spin doctors.
Click on the image below to visit the NHS Staff Survey 2016 website: