Dr Henrietta Hughes urges all leaders within the health sector to ask whether staff feel safe to speak up in their own workforce surveys
This year a new question was included in the NHS staff survey asking staff if they feel safe to speak up about anything that concerns them in their organisation. Two thirds of staff agreed or strongly agreed that they did.
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We welcome the inclusion of this question, because Freedom to Speak Up is about more than the ability to raise concerns about patient safety. It is about being able to speak up about anything which gets in the way of doing a great job, whether that’s an idea for improvement, ways of working, or behaviours.
NHS Staff Survey shows ‘profound impact’ of COVID-19 pandemic on workforce
12th March 2021
The annual NHS Staff Survey has raised concerns over the wellbeing of the NHS workforce, demonstrating the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on front-line staff.
The survey, based on almost 600,000 responses, is reportedly the largest ever undertaken, and was conducted from October to November 2020.
Among the results, there was some positives – including an increase in the number of staff who would recommend their organisation as a place to work, from 63.3% in 2019 to 66.8% in 2020.
However, the survey also found that 44% of staff reported feeling unwell due to work-related stress in the last 12 months, reflecting a 3.7% increase from last year.