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NHS staff survey 2010

1 Feb 2011 12:53 PM

A biennial survey into the opinions of health service employees was published yesterday.

Over 42,000 staff across the whole of the health service took part in the survey, which aims to ensure that all employees are supported and their views taken into account.

The survey shows:

  • The majority - 88 per cent - of employees are happy to go the 'extra mile' at work when required
  • Over 70 per cent of employees feel a sense of achievement from their work
  • The number of employees who would recommend their health board as 'a good place to work' increased to 58 per cent - compared to 55 per cent in 2008 and 43 per cent in 2006
  • Almost 80 per cent of employees intend to be working at their health board in 12 months time - compared to 77 per cent in 2008 and 70 per cent in 2006

For the first time, the survey also included a question on experiences of emotional and verbal abuse. This highlighted that one in three staff members have experienced this type of behaviour in the past 12 months.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said:

"Despite tough times ahead, our NHS employees are more motivated than ever to deliver high quality service and care. I am proud, but not surprised, to learn that the vast majority of employees regularly go above and beyond what is required of them.

"It is very concerning that staff have experienced verbal and emotional abuse and disappointing that two thirds of the incidents recorded were committed by patients' relatives and members of the public. It is utterly unacceptable that any member of the health service should be abused in the workplace.

"We have to be more efficient with the resources that we have and that means new and improved ways of working. It is important that staff are properly consulted on changes that affect them. Of course, there are still areas where improvements could be made - the survey will allow us to spot these and do something about them."

The 2010 Staff Survey included identical measures of employee engagement as the 2008 Survey (Table 12). These questions assess the degree of commitment employees feel towards NHS Scotland and the discretionary effort that employees feel they are prepared to put into their work. On each of these measures, staff responding to the 2010 survey indicated higher levels of employee engagement than staff responding to the 2008 survey. NHS Scotland staff are more likely in 2010 than in 2008 to be willing to 'go the extra mile at work when required', recommend their board as 'a good place to work' and still intend to be working within their board in 12 months time.

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