We’re making a difference to the people and communities we serve, CityCare staff tell survey
NHS National Survey results revealed
More than 89% of staff at Nottingham CityCare Partnership, the biggest provider of NHS community health services in Nottingham, say their work is making a difference to the people and communities they serve, according to results from the national NHS Staff Survey release today.
This is 5% higher than the previous year’s total for CityCare and more than 5% above this year’s national average.
Meanwhile, more than three quarters of people working for CityCare would be happy for friends and family to be cared for by their organisation.
In total 75.2% said they would be happy with standard of care provided if a friend or relative needed treatment – up 1.8% on the previous year’s response and more than 5% above the national average for comparable healthcare provider organisations.
Each year, everyone who works in the NHS in England is invited to take part in the NHS Staff Survey. It gives a snapshot of how they feel about their working lives. Results released today are based on questions asked between September and November 2023.
It captures a national picture alongside local detail, helping colleagues working across the NHS to understand where organisations are doing well and where work is needed to improve their working lives.
CityCare’s response rate to the survey, conducted in autumn 2023, was 56.8%. This is an increase of 12.8% on the previous year and CityCare’s leadership says this is a positive indicator of growing engagement among the workforce.
Overall, this year’s results show an improvement in 79% of the scores for individual questions and a reduction in 21%.
CityCare Chief Executive Lou Bainbridge said: “I’m pleased to see improvements in many key areas that matter directly to our patients, such as the care we deliver.
“It’s positive that a growing number would be confident their friends and relatives will receive good care and that almost nine out of ten feel they are making difference to the people and the communities we serve.
“It is important to thank everyone at CityCare who took part. The higher the response rate, the more accurate our results, which means we are better able to focus on the areas that matter most to our workforce.
“This is a wide-ranging survey providing a snapshot of where we are doing well and where there is work to do. We will now be drilling into the detail of our results and how we compare to similar NHS providers as we work with colleagues to improve their working lives.”
Giving colleagues the confidence and opportunities to speak up about concerns plays a key role in patient safety and maintaining high quality care.
CityCare is investing in creating an open workplace where staff have the confidence to raise concerns, particularly about patient safety. This includes the growing number of Freedom to Speak Up Champions, colleagues from across the organisation who have received special training to support colleagues wishing to speak up about an issue.
More than nine out of ten CityCare staff (92%) feel encouraged to report errors, near misses and incidents and 80.6% said they would feel secure when raising concerns about unsafe clinical practice – up 3.75% on the previous year and more than 6% higher than the average for similar organisations.
Elsewhere in the survey, some of the highest increases for CityCare included the number of colleagues who:
- Often or always feel enthusiastic about their job – 74.8%, up more than 12% on the previous year’s figures and 5% higher than the national average
- Achieve a good balance between work and home life – 64.7%, up 9.78% on the previous year
- Believe there are enough staff to support them to do their jobs properly – 37.2%, up 8.99% on the previous.
And areas where CityCare recognises there is more work to do include:
- One in five feel their appraisal has helped them improve how they do their job – 3.9% below the national average but an increase of 5.57% on CityCare’s results for the previous year.
- One in three (32.4%) felt their appraisal left them feeling that the organisation values their work and it had helped them agree clear objectives
- 47% feel there are opportunities to develop their careers at CityCare, up more than 5% on the previous year but more than 3% below the average
- There has been an increase in the number of disabled colleagues who feel that reasonable adjustments have not been made for them.
Lou Bainbridge said: “Improving life at CityCare is an ongoing process. As well as recruiting more Freedom to Speak Up Champions, much work has been done in other areas since the survey was taken.
“This includes launching our Health and Wellbeing Passport and Disability Leave Scheme to support staff with a disability; training mental health first aiders; promoting zero tolerance to violence and aggression to protect colleagues; and improving career development through our management and leadership programmes.
“But we know we can do more and will continue to work with everyone at CityCare to decide which areas we will prioritise for action over the coming months.”
Full results for CityCare and every NHS England trust and provider are available on the NHS Staff Survey website.
Click here for NHS 2023 Staff Survey localised results and search for Nottingham CityCare
Date published: 7 March 2024
