Results of the 2023 staff survey paint an improving picture for RCHT
The results of the 2023 staff survey are in, with the response showing significant improvements in all elements of the NHS People Promise, as well as in the national themes of staff engagement and morale.
Colleagues across the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust have reported considerable improvements since they last took part in the staff survey in 2022. The 2023 result shows RCHT scoring the highest improvements in these areas since the 2021 alignment of the staff survey to our People Promise.
“The People Promise sets out the things that would most improve our working experience,” explains Alison Thorne-Henderson, Chief People Officer for RCHT. “This covers factors like health and wellbeing support, the opportunity to work flexibly, and to feel we all belong, whatever our role. Having aligned our staff survey to the People Promise in 2021, we’ve seen consistently that the people who work in the NHS are best placed to say when progress has been made towards achieving our People Promise.”
In terms of improvement, several individual survey questions showed a significant jump. Response to the question, ‘I would recommend my organisation as a place to work’ went from 48% in 2022 to 57% in 2023. Another improvement was found in the question, ‘I have adequate materials, supplies and equipment to do my work.’ This is an area where RCHT services regularly rate better than its national peers and saw an increase this time of 5%. The question, ‘There are enough staff at this organisation for me to do my job properly’ saw a huge increase, with 9% more staff agreeing with this statement than in 2022.
Speaking on the initial results, Steve Williamson, Chief Executive for RCHT, said: “The substantial improvements seen this year reflect the unwavering commitment of our colleagues and the sterling work they do to support our patients and each other. 2023 was another challenging, demanding year for our hospitals, and I’d like to give a personal thank you to all our RCHT and system-wide colleagues for all they do in providing outstanding care for ‘one and all’ across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”
Alison Thorne-Henderson adds: “It is very encouraging and positive to see improvements across our staff survey results. We do still have further improvements to make. In the coming days and months, we’ll be looking into the survey results in more detail and working with staff across our hospitals to get their thoughts and opinions on what needs to be done. Things we will be focusing on and working with staff on this year include ‘how we lead and support each other with our core value of compassion,’ ‘how we create a culture where colleagues across RCHT are supported to raise concerns and see them acted upon,’ and ‘how we use our appraisal processes to support and develop colleagues.’”
The 2023 survey results for RCHT can be found on the Survey Co-ordination Centre website here:
