Published on: 19 February 2020
Results from the 2019 NHS Staff Survey* show sustained improvements at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) following a year of major organisational change.
Over 3,800 employees working across South Tyneside and Sunderland gave their feedback about experiences at work, with every single member of staff given the opportunity to input their views as part of the independently run national survey.
Overall response rates have seen continued improvement in South Tyneside and Sunderland in recent years with more staff than ever before giving their views during 2019. Key highlights show STSFT performing above the national average in a number of key areas including:
- Quality of care – with 82% of staff feeling satisfied with the quality of patient care provided and more staff feeling patient care is the Trust’s top priority
- Safe environment – with over 72% of staff feeling able to raise safety concerns and 74% feeling the Trust acts on any concerns raised
- Equality, diversity and inclusion – with over 88% of staff feeling they are treated fairly at work
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust came into operation on 1 April 2019 and is now one of the largest employers in the region providing hospital and community based healthcare service to almost half a million people.
The new Trust scored on or above the national average in five of the ten key themes, with more staff feeling supported and valued by their immediate manager and overall staff engagement sustained in line with 2018 results.
Since becoming South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, a range of quality improvements initiatives are already underway to learn from previous staff feedback, improve staff engagement and bring together the two cultures of the previous organisations. Key developments include:
- The roll-out of the NHS Rainbow Badge with over 1,000 pledges already made from staff to promote a positive message of inclusion for people who identify as LGBT+ when accessing healthcare
- Development of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, including the launch of staff networks and the Trust’s first ever inclusion conference to be held at Sunderland Royal Hospital on 28 February 2020
- Development of a new Health and Wellbeing strategy with a large focus on supporting staff and creating a healthy organisation for the future
- Launch of a new Quality strategy with a large focus on creating a positive culture of patient safety, incident reporting, shared learning and continuous quality improvement
Trust leaders will now review the 2019 NHS Staff Survey results in detail to ensure further quality improvements can be made, based on staff feedback, to provide the best possible working environment and experience.
Kath Griffin, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Listening to our staff is really important to us and I would like to thank all colleagues who took the time to give us their views as part of the 2019 NHS Staff Survey.
“Bringing together our two previous Trusts through the merger process has meant lots of change for our staff during another exceptionally busy year for our services. As always, we are extremely proud of the way our teams have embraced this with enthusiasm and positivity.
“This first set of survey results, as a newly merged Trust, is an important indicator of how we are measuring up as an employer and will provide us with a firm footing as we continue to learn and grow as a new organisation. We know that a happy, healthy and engaged workforce brings many positive benefits, not only for our teams, but for the patients we care for and our ambition now is to go further and faster to ensure we continue to make quality improvements for our staff in the years ahead.”
