NHS staff are quizzed in survey

HEALTH staff will be asked to share their views about their working lives as part of a national NHS survey.

The sixth annual survey will be completed by 700 employees within Oldham Primary Care Trust covering issues such as work-life balance, team working, job satisfaction, training, management and supervision, violence and health and safety.

The survey has been revamped to reflect research commissioned by the Department of Health into the things that matter to NHS staff, but most questions stay the same to allow PCTs to track progress over time.

New questions have been added to glean more information from staff, such as whether they feel they are supported to do a good job and whether they have the opportunity to improve the way they work.

Oldham PCT chief executive Gail Richards said: “I believe that for us to provide even better care and services we need to understand how our staff feel about their working lives and the services they provide.

“The survey is critical in helping us to work with all of our staff to achieve that aim. I urge all staff receiving a questionnaire to take part.”

Following last year’s survey the PCT has introduced a number of changes such as revising the incident reporting form and a security badge pilot scheme.

The survey is organised by the independent watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, in conjunction with the Staff Survey Advice Centre at Aston University.

Oldham PCT will use the staff views expressed in the survey to introduce improvements in working conditions.

It will also provide an opportunity for the PCT to see how it performs compared with similar organisations and nationally.

The survey results will also enable the Department of Health to assess the effectiveness of staff strategies and policies (such as training and flexible working policies).

The Healthcare Commission will publish reports for each NHS trust and the overall national findings in March, 2009.