February 23, 2016 12.21 pm This story is over 96 months old

Half of Lincolnshire’s hospital staff would not recommend trust to friends or colleagues

Staff survey: Nearly half of staff employed by the trust which runs Lincolnshire’s hospitals would not recommend it as a place to work.

Nearly half of staff employed by the trust which runs Lincolnshire’s hospitals would not recommend it as a place to work or are not satisfied with the standard of care it provides.

An NHS staff survey published on Tuesday, February 23 has put United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust in the bottom 20% for engagement with its employees.

Just 52% of the 274 staff from the trust who participated in the survey said they would recommend the organisation as somewhere to work.

Of the staff surveyed, only 54% added that if a friend or relative needed treatment, they would be happy with the standard of care provided by the organisation.

Both of these are improvements on the scores the trust recorded in the survey for 2014, but are well below the average for acute trusts nationally.

Employees’ ability to contribute towards improvements at work in Lincolnshire’s hospitals was also within the bottom 20% of trusts in England, as was staff satisfaction with resourcing and support and support from immediate managers.

The percentage of staff recording good communication between senior management and staff, quality appraisals, and effective use of patient user feedback was similarly ranked in the bottom fifth of trusts.

Other areas in which the trust was ranked below the national average included the percentage of reporting errors, near misses or incidents witnessed in the last month, the effectiveness in highlighting these errors, and staff confidence in raising unsafe clinical practice.

ULHT compared favourably with other trusts in the percentage of its staff suffering discrimination in the workplace, experiencing physical violence from staff in the last 12 months, and witnessing potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents in the last month.

The trust also saw improvements compared to 2014 in the number of staff being affected by work-related stress in the last year or feeling pressure in the last three months to attend work when unwell.

However, 30% of staff still acknowledged feeling stressed at work, and 48% admitted that they felt pressurised to come into work when they were ill.

Ian Warren, Director of HR and Organisational Development at ULHT, said: “We know the staff survey results could be higher, but they are heading in the right direction.

“Since 2014, the scores have improved with staff saying that they are more motivated, better engaged and less likely to be stressed through work.

“At ULHT, we directly act on the feedback from staff. The national staff survey is just one way in which we seek the views of staff.

“We carry out a pulse check survey every quarter and in September we launched ‘ULH Way’ to engage and motivate staff in their teams, and our new CEO recently held listening events.

“Along with the national staff survey, we use these more detailed methods to identify areas where we can focus on improving the working lives of our staff and improving patient services.”

Lincolnshire trusts’ survey results

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Other staff members working for NHS trusts across Lincolnshire participated in the survey.

Results for the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS), and Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) were published by the NHS at the same time.

The tables below compares staff satisfaction and engagement in each of Lincolnshire’s NHS trusts.

Staff responses from ULHT, EMAS, LCHS and LPFT to the NHS survey

Staff responses from ULHT, EMAS, LCHS and LPFT to the NHS survey

Staff from Lincolnshire's clinical commissioning groups responses to the NHS survey

Staff from Lincolnshire’s clinical commissioning groups responses to the NHS survey

Key findings from the survey include an overall drop in satisfaction with Lincolnshire West CCG, dropping in all four categories compared with 2014.

Only 40% of staff working for EMAS would recommend it as a place of work, although this puts it almost in line with the national average, reflecting a wider dissatisfaction with life in the emergency services.

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust staff ranked their service below the national average for mental health trusts in all four categories, while LCHS employees displayed more faith and satisfaction in their place of work, putting it level or above similar community trusts in England.

Maz Fosh, Director of Workforce and Transformation at LCHS, said: “We are pleased with the results and recognise there are areas where we need to continue our efforts. Our overall engagement score is important as it has a positive link with better patient outcomes.”


Are you a member of staff at a NHS trust in Lincolnshire? Let us know your views on the standard of care provided and satisfaction with your job by emailing [email protected]