The annual national survey of NHS staff in England is co-ordinated by the Care Quality Commission and provides the most reliable source of national and local data on how staff feel about working in the NHS.
All NHS Trusts participate and the results are used:
• by NHS Trusts to track their staff views over time and inform actions towards better care through empowered patients achieved through equally empowered staff
• by the Care Quality Commission in the 2009/10 periodic review of performance of all NHS Trusts (see link below)
• by the Pay Review Bodies as evidence in making their pay recommendations
• by NHS Employers to inform its work programme to support NHS Trusts as employers
• by DH to develop workforce policy and to measure progress towards freeing up staff to provide services that work
The principal aim of this survey is to gather information that will help individual NHS organisations to improve the working lives of their staff and so help to provide better care for patients.
The NHS staff survey is key in supporting NHS organisations to asses how they are delivering the staff elements of the NHS Constitution as well as providing staff with the opportunity to provide their views on working in the NHS and the areas they would like to see improved.
More information about the National NHS Staff Survey Programme, including results from the latest survey, can be found on the Care Quality Commission’s website.
Resource materials produced by the Intitute of Employment Studies on behalf of the Department of Health which start to detail the evidence base for the survey, as well as case studies from public and private sector organisations explaining how and why their staff surveys have improved effectiveness. This resource will be updated periodically.
