NHS Chief Executive, David Nicholson, is encouraging NHS chief executives to strongly support the 2012 NHS Staff Survey and to encourage their staff to take part. He has provided information on the survey, including the key dates of activity for NHS organisations, in a letter to NHS chief executives.
The full details for the survey have been published by the NHS Staff Survey Co-ordination Centre, responsible for co-ordinating the staff survey on behalf of the Department of Health.
The principal aim of the survey is to gather information that will help individual NHS organisations to improve the working lives of their staff and so help to provide better care for patients.
Read:
- David Nicholson’s letter
- Guidance and documents for the 2012 survey and results from previous surveys from the NHS Staff Survey Co-ordination Centre
- Results of 2011 NHS staff survey
The annual national survey of NHS staff in England provides the most reliable source of national and local data on how staff feel about working in the NHS. All NHS trusts – acute, ambulance, mental health, care and primary care – participate and the results are used:
- by each trust themselves to track their staff views over time and inform actions towards better care through empowered and involved staff
- by the Care Quality Commission in the quality and risk profiles for NHS trusts
- by the pay review bodies as evidence in making their pay recommendations
- by NHS Employers to inform its work programme to support NHS trusts as employers
- by the Department of Health to develop workforce policy and to measure progress towards freeing up staff to provide services that work
Importantly, patients also derive key information from the staff survey via the NHS Choices website. Key indicators from the survey are incorporated onto the comparison tool to help patients make an informed decision about where to get treatment.
The NHS staff survey also provides staff with the opportunity to provide their views on working in the NHS and the areas they would like to see improved.
A measure of staff engagement is now reported to trusts from the NHS staff survey. This was introduced as there is a wide body of research over many sectors, both private and public, that shows engaged, satisfied employees are more productive and deliver better business outcomes.
