Less than half of staff at Shropshire's major hospitals would be happy with standard of care if relative needed treatment

The 2019 staff survey at Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) also revealed that just 49 per cent would recommend the organisation as a place to work, and only 54.1 per cent of those surveyed look forward to going to work.

The trust runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, and senior staff acknowledged that the results of the survey were "hard to hear".

Asked "if a friend or relative needed treatment, I would be happy with the standard of care provided by this organisation" only 53.6 per cent responded "yes".

See also:

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• New Shropshire hospital boss: 'I’ll be working to lead improvements for the benefit of patients and our community'

• Future Fit: Shropshire hospitals trust realised rise in cost 'after scheme was reviewed'

• More than 30 extra nurses from India could join Shropshire's A&Es

The result is considerably lower than the national average of 70.5 per cent.

The national response to recommendation of a place to work was higher than SaTH at 62.5 per cent, while nationally 60.2 per cent of staff surveyed look forward to going to work.

The results are an improvement on last year, but will still be alarming to senior management.

Rhia Boyode, interim workforce director at SaTH, said they would be working on drawing up plans for improvement.

She said: “I would like to thank all of our staff who took the time to have their voices heard.

“It is hard to hear that many of our staff would not recommend SaTH as somewhere to work or that they are not entirely happy with the care we provide.

Benefit

"Whilst we are still not where we want to be, we have begun to turn a corner with the results showing marginal improvement. This is a positive step, and one we must build on.

“Our senior leadership team now needs to look closely at, and act upon, what our colleagues are telling us and we will be sharing with them our plans to make continuous improvements for the benefit of them, and our patients.”

Frontline staff have been under serious pressure at the trust, which is still in special measures following a critical Care Quality Commission inspection in 2018.

The organisation has seen huge pressure on its emergency departments at both hospitals, with the 411 patients facing trolley waits of more than 12 hours at the A&E departments in January, making it the worst performing trust in the country.

The pressure on the A&E departments has been compounded by continual delays to the Future Fit reorganisation, which senior management have argued is essential to provide safe and sustainable services.

The trust is also subject to an ongoing inquiry into poor care at its maternity services, with more than 900 cases being looked at by the Donna Ockenden-led review.