8/9/2019 One Message April 2008

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 The Healthcare Commission annual survey

o all NHS Trusts is soon to be published, and

both sta and managers will be concerned

about its ndings. Here is our summary o 

what it says. For the ull version, go to

www.healthcarecommission.org.uk 

First, more St George’s sta took part in the

survey this year – 49 per cent compared with

37 per cent last year. We had set ourselves a

target to improve the response rate to make

the ndings more reliable as a measure o 

what everyone thinks.

Looking at the results across the board there

were ve key scores where we were in the top

20 per cent o acute trusts in England, and

our where we were in the worst 20 per cent.

Let’s look at the good results rst.

•  Three quarters o our sta (75 per cent)

said they were able to work fexibly and

had taken advantage o one o the fexible

working options provided. Last year’s score

was just 66 per cent.

• On the quality o job design – clear job

content, eedback and sta involvement

– we scored 3.38 out o a possible 5. That

was higher than last year too, when we

scored 3.33.

• On work pressure – how much sta eel

their workload is larger than they can cope

with – we scored 3.07 out o 5, better than

last year’s 3.19.

• On positive eeling within the

organisation – including team working,

supervision, communication and sta 

involvement – we scored 2.94 out o 5. This

gure cannot be compared with last year

because the question has changed, but

that still puts us in the top 20 per cent o 

trusts nationally.

• On the issue o experiencing physical

violence 9 per cent o sta across the Trust

said they had experienced violence rom

patients, service users or relatives. The

gures are considerably higher (18 per

cent) or nursing sta, and compared by

directorate, Acute Medicine scored 35 per

cent and Surgical 21 per cent. This is clearly

an area o major concern or the entire NHS

but our total gure still puts us in the top

20 per cent o better perormers nationally.

 There were three other areas where St

George’s perormed signicantly better than

the national average, as well as showing

better scores than we achieved last year.

 These were:

• Support rom immediate managers

• Percentage o sta reporting errors

• Sta intending to leave (we scored a low2.70 out o 5, compared with 2.78 last year).

Now the not so good news…

In our areas we were in the worst 20 per cent

o trusts nationally. They were:

• Sta working extra hours – 74 per cent

said they worked longer than the hours or

which they are contracted. Last year,

however, the score was 77 per cent.

• Sta witnessing potentially harmul errors

– 41 per cent o sta said they had

witnessed an incident in the last month

that could have hurt patients or sta. Last

year the same gure was 46 per cent.

One MessageHow did St Georges’s score on the 2007 sta survey?

Some good, some not so good news this year

 The monthly sta brieng

rom the Chie Executive April 2008

Our values +  Treat all

people with respect and

dignity + Deliver care in

partnership with others 

+ Continually strive or

excellence + Ensure

probity and transparency

in spending public money 

+ Be an exemplary

employer + Be committed

to education, training and

research + Be open and

honest with each other

Dear Colleague,

8/9/2019 One Message April 2008

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Our values +  Treat all

people with respect and

dignity + Deliver care in

partnership with others 

+ Continually strive or

excellence + Ensure

probity and transparency

in spending public money 

+ Be an exemplary

employer + Be committed

to education, training andresearch + Be open and

honest with each other

• Sta experiencing physical violence rom

sta. Three per cent o sta said they had

experienced physical violence romcolleagues or managers in the previous

12 months. This was the same as the score

last year.

• Availability o hand washing machines.

We scored 4.33 out o 5 here, compared

with a near identical 4.34 last year.

We also scored signicantly worse than the

national average in ve areas:

• Sta appraisal rate

• Sta with personal development plans

• Health & Saety training

• Work related injuries

• Harassment and bullying

All o these areas will receive priority

attention in the coming year so that we

can improve sta experience o work at

St George’s, and through that, supportsta to do their best or our patients.

Any improvement in attitudes over time is

to be welcomed so we can be pleased about

some o these results. What we can certainly

not be in any way is complacent, as the survey

shows there is so much more to do.

We have shared and discussed the results

with our sta side representatives, who have

welcomed the uptake in sta taking part in

the survey. Mike Pollard, sta side secretary,said:

“We are pleased that management is not

complacent about these results. In particular,

we are concerned about the bad scores orsta working extra hours and experiencing

physical violence, bullying and harassment

rom colleagues. Sta side will be working

together with the Trust to try and ensure that

serious measures are taken to improve these

things.

“We hope that the Trust will be asking or

your ideas on how we can improve, and or

you to say i you have experienced any

problems. And o course, you can always

approach your local union rep to discuss

any concerns in condence.”

 Thank you to all who took part in the survey;

your views and comments are very important

to us. Last year we produced an action plan

to respond to the 2006 results and we will

update this to refect this year’s outcomes this

year. I hope the actions we took assisted in

the modest improvements in this year’s

survey, but we must keep on improving the

way we work so that patients and sta begin

to eel St George’s is an excellent hospital

both to be treated in and to work in.

Best wishes,

David Astley

Chie Executive