Patient care is top priority for East Lancashire hospital staff

Results of the major annual survey, carried out across organisations and NHS staff around the country to benchmark performance and help measure staff satisfaction across a range of topics, have now been made public.

For the 2020 survey, more staff at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust took part than last year, despite the pressures of the Covid pandemic.

Highlights include that 83% of staff believe care of patients / service users is the organisation’s top priority (compared to a national average of 79%), that 75% of staff would be happy with the standard of care if a friend or relative needed treatment (compared to 74% in 2019) and that 72% would recommend it as a place to work (vs a national average of 67%).

In total, 90% of staff believed that their role makes a difference to patients (equalling both the national average and the Trust’s 2019 result).

Kevin McGee, Trust chief executive, has welcomed the findings and thanked the high levels of staff for taking part at such a difficult time.

He explained: “The annual survey is a great way of benchmarking our performance against other NHS organisations across the country, and to highlight any specific areas we as a Trust need to focus on.

“It really is a testament to our staff that, even during the immense pressures of the pandemic, record numbers took the time to engage with the survey and let us know their thoughts.

“It’s great to see that staff have such a strong belief in our commitment to providing safe and high quality care to our patients and that they go to work knowing they are making a difference to patients.”

The Trust’s response rate was 55% per cent, which means 4,795 staff members took the opportunity to have their say and influence the way the Trust is run. This is above the national average and is an increase of 8% on the Trust’s 2019 survey results.

Staff were asked a range of questions based on ten themes, which included equality and diversity, health and wellbeing, quality of care and safety culture. In eight of the themes, the Trust scored above the national average. In two the Trust equalled the average.

Kevin McGee added: “It will be our job now to study the results and ensure we are learning from them, and to engage with our staff every step of the way as we continue our journey of improvement.”