'Team effort needed' to drive changes at Shropshire hospitals following staff survey concerns

Questions in the 2020 NHS Staff Survey were divided into themes and the results show that the overall ‘safety culture’ score for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust was the worst nationally.

Concerns were also raised in many other areas which scored lower than the national average.

Addressing the trust's board of directors at a meeting yesterday, its chief executive Louise Barnett said the results were 'poor' and it was important to take action.

She said: "It's important for the board to understand fully what our staff are saying, for us to commit to actions that we can continue to take to build that culture and safety culture within the organisation.

"Overall, our aim of course is to deliver high quality care, and to do that by supporting our staff."

Director of workforce Rhia Boyode said the results were a 'disappointing read' in many aspects of the report.

She said: "We must do all we can to demonstrate that we are listening and actioning on their suggestions.

"It is going to take all of us, including colleagues, to make sure these changes happen."

She said there were four particular areas of concern, adding: "One is in particular around safety culture.

Feedback

"It is still the case that staff feel they don't feel assured they are getting feedback in terms of concerns, whether it be errors or near misses, and that the organisation is taking action to make sure those improvements are happening and those things won't happen again.

"It must be the case that all our staff feel safe to raise concerns but also as a board and a leader, we provide a compelling vision of what our safety culture is to be."

She said it was important to ensure staff feel proud about the quality of care they deliver, that they are trained and equipped with the right resources and feel they have a voice.

Board members also heard about a programme of work taking place on culture and leadership across the trust.

Ms Boyode said the initial analysis would feed into its 'making a difference' cultural programme.

Dr Catriona McMahon, chair of the trust, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, told the board it was the responsibility of all leaders to drive forward change and to ask what more could be done.

John Jones, deputy medical director, said that bosses are looking at how the trust can change the way it recruits so greater numbers of staff are doing fewer hours in order to concentrate on improving the quality of care they can offer.

He said the trust was also taking advantage of Microsoft Teams to develop a monthly conversation with its doctors.

The staff survey was carried out in October and November last year, with more than 2,500 workers at SaTH responding.