Barnsley Hospital has some of ‘best results in country’ in NHS staff survey

All Barnsley’s survey scores were above the average of Trusts within the comparator group of ‘Acute and Acute & Community Trusts’, a total of 122 organisations.

Hospital staff feel valued and that they are recognised for the excellent job they do, and people feel they have autonomy and control, and are trusted to do their jobs. Over the last year the Trust has implemented a wide variety of processes and support for colleagues to vary aspects of their work to achieve a better work-life balance and staff have reported favourably on this, ranking Barnsley Hospital best Acute Trust in the country for supporting work-life balance.

The Trust is led by its values, with a commitment around teamworking to “work together to provide the best quality care”. Colleagues have rated Barnsley Hospital as best Acute Trust in the country for team working and line management, a tribute to the people supporting each other every day in the hospital. Alongside positive ratings for line management, the Trust scored best in the country for compassionate leadership, demonstrating managers and leaders in the organisation really listen to their teams and support them.

The survey involves staff answering a series of 118 questions about their experience of work, along with questions relating to staff engagement and morale.Results for this year show colleagues at Barnsley Hospital feel better about their work and working culture than people do for the average Acute and Community Trust.

Steven Ned, Barnsley Hospital’s Executive Director of People, said:

“These are a great set of results and we continue to improve. We are the third best Trust in our comparative group and had an improved response. Answers to 97 survey questions out of 118 were the same or significantly better than the previous year.

“Our survey results reflect well on all of our staff. There is always room for improvement, and always organisations that are going to be better than us, so we need to keep going forwards and building on this. We work hard here in Barnsley to provide quality care against increasing demands and the survey results are important because they are used to improve care for patients and working conditions for all staff.”

Sheena McDonnell, Barnsley Hospital Chair, said:

“This year over 2,200 staff took the time to complete the survey and share with us their experience of working at the Trust.

“I am delighted to see our scores this year have improved for every theme. Colleagues are telling us Barnsley Hospital is a great place to work, indeed in some areas our results are the best in the country.Of particular note was the support in the Trust for flexible working where colleagues reported the Trust supported them to balance home and work life.”

She added that, while the survey results were really welcome, the Trust was not complacent, and knew there were areas where it needed to improve. Sheena added:

“The experience of some staff from Black and Ethnic Minority backgrounds is sometimes not where we want it to be. We continue to work to improve this, listening carefully to the experience for those colleagues through our recently established Race Equality and Inclusion staff network.

“We also know some areas of the Trust don’t report the same levels of satisfaction as the majority of others, and this year we will provide additional support to those areas.”

Barnsley Hospital Chief Executive Dr Richard Jenkins thanked everyone who took the time to complete the survey. He said:

“It’s wonderful to see such positive survey results for the Trust. We work hard here in Barnsley to provide quality care against increasing demands, and the survey results are important because they are used to improve care for patients and working conditions for colleagues.”