NHS Staff Survey – is it really anonymous?

The NHS Staff Survey is one of the largest workforce surveys in the world and is carried out every year to improve staff experiences at EEAST and across the wider NHS. The survey is owned by NHS England and the Staff Survey Coordination Centre, based at Picker Institute Europe.

Every employee who is eligible receives an email with a unique link to complete the survey. If the survey remains incomplete, the employee will receive regular reminders until they either complete the survey or the closing date is reached.

They know that I’ve not completed it, how can it be anonymous?

Our staff data is transferred to Picker using a secure online portal, where only the Picker survey team have access to it. As an accredited survey contractor, Picker comply with ISO 20252, ISO 270001 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

A unique survey code is assigned to every employee on the list so that everyone only receives one survey. EEAST will not be able to match these codes with individual answers. The unique code is used to track survey completion. If the survey is completed, the code will be registered as ‘complete’. This gets added to the organisation and department totals.

EEAST can’t see whether individuals have completed the survey or not. If the survey remains incomplete, staff will receive automatic reminder emails.

EEAST has no access to individual responses and Picker will not supply any identifiable data.

As a thank you for your time completing the survey, you will receive a £5 Costa voucher, which has been funded by our East of England Ambulance Service Charity. Picker will also be distributing the Costa vouchers to you via email, using the code system as above, typically within seven days of receiving your response.

Published 12 October 2023