Staff survey shows progress at West Suffolk Hospital

19 August, 2002

The West Suffolk Hospital has released the results of its staff survey for 2002, which shows a number of improvements over the past twelve months.

The survey showed that the Hospital is a friendly, supportive place to work, with friendly colleagues the most popular choice as the best thing about working at the Trust.  The satisfaction derived from fulfilling a caring role in society was the second choice, followed by the good team spirit which exists.  The flexible working hours were another positive area highlighted by staff.

"We try to listen to what staff tell us they need, and one innovation we have introduced is flexible working hours," said Jan Bloomfield, Director of Human Resources at the Trust.  "In today s world it is often difficult to reconcile the demands of work and life outside of work, and flexitime is intended to make it easier for people to manage this balance."

Working relationships between staff and their immediate manager are given the thumbs-up, with 86% of people reporting they found their manager to be approachable.

In response to last year s survey, the Trust took action in several areas. To improve security and reduce the incidence of violence towards staff, panic alarms were installed in key areas such as A&E, mobile phones were issued to community midwives and staff were trained in handling violence.

In the 2002 survey, 5.4% of staff had been the victim of a violent incident at work in the last 12 months, compared to 7.0% last year. The rate of reporting a violent incident went up from 84.6% to 93%.

Another action taken as a result of the 2001 survey was to extend the provision of counselling services, which are now available to all staff.

Appraisal and personal development planning procedures were reviewed to ensure that everyone gets the training and development they require.  69% of staff are now satisfied with the input they have into identifying their training and development needs. The proportion of staff receiving formal appraisals and Personal Development Plans both increased significantly from last year.

"Following last year s survey, we sought to make concrete improvements in those areas that were identified by staff as lacking," said John Parkes, Trust chief executive.  "Our training procedures have improved to ensure that people are trained in the areas that are most relevant to their work.

In the rapidly changing world of healthcare, it is important that staff are kept fully up-to-date with developments in their field.

"Listening to what staff tell us they need to work more effectively is vital.   Staff suggestions were included in the action plan developed to ease car parking problems on site, such as season tickets for staff.

"Overall the results of the 2002 survey are heartening, in that they show we have improved since last year.  However, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels and there is still plenty of areas that we need to work on.  We will use the information from this latest survey to make the changes that staff have told us they need.  Our task over the coming months is to make sure that we take the initiative and make those improvements happen."

Over 2700 staff in the Trust were sent forms earlier this year asking for their views on a range of issues relating to their employment.   818 forms were returned completed, a response rate of 30%.

The Trust, which runs the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds and the Walnuttree and St Leonards Hospitals in Sudbury, was one of nine NHS organisations in Suffolk which commissioned ERS Market Research to undertake the survey.  The aim was to find out what employees feel about their conditions of employment - which aspects of their working life are they pleased with and which areas need to be improved.