The annual national NHS Staff Survey offers a vital insight into the experiences of NHS staff, guiding local improvements in staff experience and wellbeing. Nationally, the results provide an important measure of performance against the NHS People Promise, a cornerstone initiative aimed at enhancing the working experience for all NHS staff.
MPFT continues to shine brightly, scoring above average in all nine key elements of the survey. The Trust has also achieved the highest accolade, ranking as the best in the country amongst trusts of a similar type in five key areas. The response from more than 5,200 staff, its highest ever number of responses, underlines MPFT’s commitment to creating a supportive and thriving workplace.
With a resounding 75% of staff endorsing MPFT as a fantastic place to work, the Trust’s dedication to its people is clear.
Delivering high quality services for the communities it serves remains a key objective for the Trust. An impressive 77% of staff said they would be happy if a friend or family member required treatment here, 12 percentage points above the national average. Meanwhile an overwhelming 83% say that care of patients is MPFT’s top priority.
Ensuring staff have good relationships with each other is a key indicator of staff experience of work. Through effective leadership initiatives, 82% of staff say their manager encourages them and takes a positive interest in their health and wellbeing.
As a complex integrated Trust providing physical and mental health services, MPFT recognises the importance of continuing to grow its culture of speaking up. Encouragingly, 81% of staff would feel secure in raising concerns about unsafe clinical practice - 4 percentage points above the national average score.
Effective teamwork is instrumental in driving innovation and enhancing patient outcomes. Positively, 80% of MPFT staff say their team has a shared set of objectives.
In 2023, MPFT initiated workshops aimed at supporting in handling flexible work requests, resulting in 82% of staff feeling comfortable discussing flexible working arrangements with their managers. In addition, 71% of staff said they are happy with the flexible working opportunities available at MPFT, and the Trust’s recent launch of a flexible working policy will further improve this satisfaction with work-life balance.
MPFT’s Chief Executive Officer Neil Carr, said: “I’m delighted with the Trust’s results. We have once again surpassed previous years, and this reflects the hard work and dedication of our staff. To be rated as the highest performing Trust of our type across several indicators is an incredible achievement, and one which we should all be proud of.
“I would particularly like to say a huge thank you to all our MPFT colleagues. It is only because of them we are able to provide the services to those that need them whilst creating a positive culture for colleagues. But we are not complacent. The NHS Staff Survey provides us with an excellent indicator of what our staff are feeling, what they need to be happy at work, and do the best job they can. Receiving our highest number of responses to date means our results are even more representative. It allows us to understand what matters most and what we need to do so even more people have a truly great experience at work with MPFT.
“Ultimately, if our colleagues are happy, it will only result in better outcomes for our patients and improve the care that we provide to the communities we serve.”