Highs and lows reported by NHS staff

The results of the seventh annual national survey, published by the Care Quality Commission, shows high and rising levels of job satisfaction among staff and a reduction in the proportion of staff saying they intend to leave their current position. However, many staff feel excluded from decision-making, there is a common view that senior managers do not act on staff feedback and less than a third are satisfied with the extent to which their Trusts value their work. Almost 290,000 NHS staff were asked for their views on working in the NHS in October 2009 (55% responded). Overall, the 2009 survey offers 40 key findings about working in the NHS. Of these, 26 show improvements from 2008, two have deteriorated and eight have remained unchanged. The remaining four key findings are new to the survey in 2009. Key improvements highlighted by the survey include a rise in the proportion of staff that would recommend the NHS as “a good place to work” – with just over half of staff supporting this statement, while just under two thirds said they were happy with the standard of care provided by their Trust. Some 90% of all NHS staff said they feel that they are making a difference to patients and the majority said they have rewarding jobs. Over half commented that they look forward to going to work, while more than two-thirds are enthusiastic about their jobs and three-quarters feel that time passes by quickly when they are working. The majority of staff are also satisfied with the support they receive from colleagues and from their immediate manager, while more staff are satisfied with their level of pay – although the overall proportion remains just over a third (38%). Of particular concern, however, was the finding that only a third of staff are satisfied with the extent to which their Trusts value their work (33% compared with 31% in 2008), while ambulance staff are least likely to report feeling that their work is valued by their Trust (19%). As in previous years, a substantial proportion of staff (46%) said that they do not have enough time and that there is not enough staff to enable them to do their jobs properly (45%). In addition, forty-two percent of staff reported conflicting demands on their time at work, while two-thirds of staff across the NHS reported working more than their contracted hours. Indeed, 51% regularly work extra unpaid hours and only 44% of staff feel that their Trust is committed to helping its staff balance their work and home life. There is also a need to improve teamworking – while most staff work in teams, many do not appear to work as effectively as they could (with only 40% saying they work in a team which has clear and shared objectives, which meets regularly, and which reviews its performance).

Staff welfare

The proportion of staff who said they had suffered from work-related stress in the preceding year has remained the same as in 2008 (at 28%), although it is less than in 2007 (33%). Sixty-two per cent of staff indicated that they had not experienced any difficulties in completing their daily work as a consequence of their physical health, and a similar proportion (63%) indicated that their daily work had not been affected by their mental wellbeing. However, 67% of staff reported that they had attended work in the previous three months when they felt unwell. Of those who had attended work, 91% stated that they had put themselves under pressure to attend work; 28% felt under pressure from their manager and 21% from other colleagues to attend. Staff in ambulance Trusts (41%) were most likely to report pressure from their manager, but least likely to report pressure from colleagues (13%). The extent to which NHS staff experience violence from patients (or their relatives) is largely unchanged since 2008, but fewer staff say they were subject to bullying, harassment or abuse from patients. In the 2009 survey, staff reported being more likely to report such incidents and were more confident that their Trust would take effective action when they did so. Around one in six (17%) had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from either their line manager or other colleagues, similar to previous years (18%). Overall, 90% of staff across the NHS agree that their Trust acts fairly with career progression and promotion, regardless of ethnic background, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age.