Listening to staff

Over the last few weeks hundreds of staff have been giving their feedback and thoughts to the Trust and UNISON. More than 1,500 people responded to the UNISON Put Back the Heart survey which closed recently and more than 500 people have already given their views on what our values should be. In addition the non-executive directors have been out and about meeting staff and collecting their feedback.

What the feedback indicates is that whilst we have seen many improvements in the Trust there is still much work to be done if we are to meet our ambition of better supporting staff to provide excellent care to patients. The three key issues raised through the UNISON survey were late finishes, sickness management and performance management.

As a result, UNISON colleagues met with members of the executive team this week to discuss these issues and how we can make this a better place to work. It was agreed that a small group of managers and UNISON colleagues will set aside some dedicated time in March to agree how to make positive improvements on all three issues.

The executive team also agreed to see if there was a quick change that could be made to ease late finishes - one that helps staff whilst maintaining our response to patients and keeping them safe.

Fraer Stevenson said: "We need to urgently address the key issues evidenced by our #PBTH survey. Change means doing things differently, having the commitment from Anthony to tackle these issues is reassuring and we look forward to positive and supportive changes to move forward on some of these long standing issues."

Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive, said: "When I joined the Trust in January 2014 one of my overriding priorities was to better support staff and help them provide the best possible care for patients. I am pleased that we have made progress but as the results of this survey show we have more to do. I am absolutely committed to acting on your feedback and together, through our partnership working with Unison, we will make progress on these matters. Please be assured all staff continue to have my full support."

Published 26th February 2015