UHNM celebrates improvements in staff morale and engagement in NHS Staff Survey

Employees at University Hospitals of North Midlands have reported improvements in staff engagement and morale, team-working and compassionate and inclusive leadership, in the annual national NHS staff survey for 2023.

The survey is the biggest of its kind in the NHS gathering views on employee experience at work around key areas such as equality, diversity and inclusion; health and wellbeing; morale; quality of care: and safe environment.

The survey is aligned to the seven themes that make up the NHS People Promise, as well as measuring levels of staff engagement and morale, with people working at UHNM rating their experience higher than the average acute trust for morale and feeling “safe and healthy at work”.

This year’s final response rate to the survey at UHNM, which includes Royal Stoke and County hospitals, was 45 per cent (5,340 employees)- a significant increase when compared to last year’s response rate of 33 per cent and is in line with other organisations. Staff answered questions under seven ‘People Promise’ themes in the survey and two separate questions relating to staff engagement and staff morale. These were:

• we are compassionate and inclusive;
• we are recognised and rewarded;
• we each have a voice that counts;
• we are safe and healthy;
• we are always learning;
• we work flexibly;
• we are a team;
• would you recommend your organisation as a place to work?; and
• would you recommend your organisation as a place to receive treatment?

Improvements have been made across all areas and scores for morale and “we are safe and healthy” were in line with other trusts. When comparing UHNM results from last year to 2023, of the 107 question asked, UHNM has improved in 73, including staff recommending UHNM as a place for friends and family to receive care. Response equalled the same as last year in 33 questions and declined for one question.

Jane Haire, UHNM Chief People Officer, thanked staff for completing the survey. She said: “We are firmly committed to being a welcoming, fair and inclusive place to work for all of our colleagues, so we are delighted that more people than ever chose to voice their experiences. 

“It is encouraging to see the progress we are making in what has been another challenging year at work with the cost of living crisis; large scale industrial action and all year round operational pressures.”

She added that UHNM had specifically focused throughout the year on diversity, equality and inclusion and compassionate leadership, so it was pleasing to see that survey results had made year on year improvements in these areas.

“Whilst we have made significant improvements, as an organisation, we are still not where we want to be. Over the coming year we will be building on the progress so far  which includes continuing our focus on creating a work environment which is safe and healthy, where work and home life are well balanced, and colleagues can come into work feeling safe.”

Tracy Bullock, UHNM Chief Executive, said: “The survey results are vital as they provide a snapshot of how everyone at UHNM feels about working here.  

“Our much improved results reflects how our people are looking out for each other, working together and managing each other well. There is always room for improvement, so we need to retain our focus on our people, listen and make informed changes so that we can make UHNM a great place to work for everyone.”