The Healthcare Commission has published the annual NHS staff survey. Over 128,000 staff in 326 trusts gave their views and experiences of working for the NHS in England – there was a response rate of 53%. The findings include:
- Job satisfaction: Figures show there is significant job satisfaction in the NHS, although it has edged down across all trust types.
- Violence and bullying: Violence and abuse remains unacceptably high, particularly in ambulance trusts and mental health and learning disability trusts. Hygiene control and infection: It was the second year that staff were asked about the availability of hand-washing items and figures show there is room for improvement. Discrimination: The number of staff who say they experience discrimination in the work place has increased slightly in all trust types.
- Errors, near misses and incidents: There has been a downward trend in the number of staff who said they witnessed an error, near miss or incident in the previous 12 months. There had been a slight upward trend in numbers of people saying it was reported.
- Injuries and stress: Injury or illness-related to work has decreased in all trusts, except for ambulance trusts, where it remained the same. Work-related stress has been decreasing steadily over the years and this trend continued in 2006 across all trust types.
- Appraisals: In every type of trust, a significant number of staff are not receiving appraisals or performance development reviews. Of those who said they did receive an appraisal or performance development review, most are not finding it helpful.
- Working hours and overtime: A very high proportion of NHS staff report working more than their contracted hours.