NHS Confederation responds to NHS Staff Survey
Responding to the results of the latest NHS Staff Survey Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, part of the NHS Confederation, said:
“It is no surprise given that we have now witnessed several months of industrial action by NHS staff that those same staff, who have worked through extraordinary challenges over the past few years, have expressed their feelings of deep frustration in these responses.
“It is of course concerning to see that 17% of staff considering leaving for another job will do so as soon as they find one and that, despite the continuing efforts of health leaders to recruit and retain employees, the numbers of those willing to recommend the NHS as an employer has also dropped. This is reinforced by the responses to staff satisfaction on pay.
“At the same time the hard work of team leaders and managers is borne out by the results that more staff say that they feel listened to by their line managers, that they take effective action to help with any problems and that they take a positive interest in their health and well-being.
“However, we must not shy away from the fact that so many of our people tell us and the government that they cannot work to their best of their abilities.
“With 124,000 vacant posts, including over 40,000 vacancies in nursing, it is also not unexpected that there has also been a fall in the number of staff who say there are enough of them to do their jobs properly.
“NHS leaders are urgently calling for the government to invest in a long promised and much overdue workforce plan and to detail how they will fill these gaps.
“Until staff know help is coming, their overall satisfaction with the NHS will not improve.”
About us
We are the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The members we represent employ 1.5 million staff, care for more than 1 million patients a day and control £150 billion of public expenditure. We promote collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.
