The Airwave Top Ambulance Trust
The Top Mental Health Trust
The Nursing and Midwifery Council Top Healthcare Employers for Nurses and Midwives
The Allocate Software Top Employer for Managers
The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement Most Improved Employer
The Zenon Top Employer for Performance Management and Staff Development
NHS West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust
Ambulance services have gone through massive changes in the last three years and have faced the challenge of combining many smaller organisations into one management structure.
West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust was formed from four others in 2007 and now its 4,000 employees serve a population of 5.3 million that ranges from the urban heartlands of Birmingham to rural areas. But with a farflung staff where immediate working relations with the rest of the crew are so important, there are particular challenges that ambulance services have to meet.
Since the merger, the trust has made changes to operational working practices and working conditions. It says it promotes a culture of openness and honesty, where staff engagement is actively encouraged. It was named as ambulance service of the year three years running – 2007, 2008 and 2009 – by the Ambulance Service Institute.
Not surprisingly, staff derive a lot of satisfaction from their dealings with the public. But they are also complimentary about the organisation, which many
say has moved on considerably.
“I have the backing of managers and there is always someone in authority to give advice or assistance,” says one employee.
Others praise the support received from the trust for staff undertaking higher education courses.
NHS South Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust
This year we have some very strong mental health trusts; South Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust is ranked top of our NHS list and Oxleas Foundation Trust isn’t far behind.
Mental health work used to be regarded as a tough choice, but there is plenty of evidence it is now employing first class leaders (South Essex chief executive Dr Patrick Geoghegan was NHS leader of the year last year) and providing excellent working conditions where staff feel valued and involved.
Simon Hart, human resources and organisational development director at Oxleas, describes it as “different rather than difficult” and highlights the holistic approach to care which it often takes. It is an approach that also tends to be reflected in how staff are treated.
Third is Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust, which is also highly rated and has an inspirational chief executive.
NHS South of Tyne and Wear PCTs provider services
Nurses working for the provider side of NHS South of Tyne and Wear are likely to be caring for patients who, in many areas, would be in hospital.
Intensive nursing care, backed up by good training, is helping patients who are vulnerable to live and die in their own homes.
It is that ability to deliver good care and make a difference to patients that is important to staff, according to Bev Atkinson, human resources director. Patient stories are used as an effective way of bringing home to all staff the difference the service makes.
The organisation covers a wide area that has considerable deprivation and a growing number of people who are very old. “We are one of the few trusts to offer a whole range of services including delivering acute care in the community,” says Ms Atkinson. “We do lots of on the job training and career succession planning. We have lots of tools to assess whether a patient will require hospital admission or could stay at home. Staff can access training online.”
This is necessary as most of the services offered are nurse led and have been for some time. But the organisation has no problems recruiting nurses – in fact, many are attracted by the challenging, yet satisfying, jobs on that are on offer.
Second in this category was South Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust and third The Royal Marsden Foundation Trust.
NHS South Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust
Managers get a raft of development opportunities at this mental health and learning disabilities trust, perhaps not surprising as the chief executive was named NHS leader of the year last year.
Dr Patrick Geoghegan is known as an inspirational leader who wants to encourage others to come forward, and runs a trust that is prepared to offer all staff the opportunity to shine.
There is a modular development course so managers can progress even if work commitments make it difficult for them to attend a particular session. They also get 360-degree appraisals and there is a focus on career development and succession planning.
But that does not mean the trust won’t recruit from outside – it has taken several managers from outside the NHS and they often have a different approach, says Karen Hussey, assistant director of human resources. The trust’s ethos, which puts customer care at the focus of what they do, obviously has parallels in many other sectors beyond healthcare.
“We do want to grow our own but we are open to bringing in people from outside the NHS especially in management roles. We have a very good mixture,” she says.
The trust also runs a management programme linked to Yale University. “Some of our managers go over there and do some training and last month we had some visitors with links to Yale to learn about our processes,” she says. “That’s a leading edge programme – I don’t think any mental health programme had done anything like that. We do tend to think outside the box and think much more like a business.”
NHS Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust
Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust has put staff engagement and involvement at the heart of tackling the financial difficulties the NHS will face in the coming years.
The trust, which is moving into a new hospital and changing services at a second, has concentrated on several areas the NHS staff survey had suggested could be approved. More staff are getting appraisals and their quality has improved, it has introduced a policy on violence and aggression towards staff, and improved opportunities for flexible working.
Its changes have vastly improved these factors in the staff survey and meetings are held with staff to examine when they have provided “best care” for patients and what helped them. This “best care, people, place” programme is helping to develop a series of pledges for patients and staff, backed up by a list of management behaviours.
“We are upping the ante on communication, engagement and partnership working,” says a spokeswoman. These, along with openness, are vital in helping the trust through tougher financial times, she says. Much has been achieved here in little over a year.
Second in this category was The Walton Centre Foundation Trust and third was NHS Gloucestershire.
NHS South Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust
It’s no surprise to see South Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust taking this award: its training and development opportunities are praised by staff and it has a well thought out and extensive appraisal process.
It’s appraising about 98 per cent of staff, suggesting that very few fall through the net.
Karen Hussey, assistant director of human resources, says team appraisals help each member to appreciate what other members are contributing to the team’s objectives. “That seems to have had a big impact on how people feel about working in a team,” she says.
Individuals also get work objectives and personal objectives, which might include development in a particular direction.
The trust’s commitment to staff development is clear. Training and development starts with induction – including a session on customer care, which makes it clear providing excellent care is key to the organisation’s ethos – and continues throughout an employee’s career.
There is also a clear commitment to offering development opportunities to those in the lower bands so they can become assistant practitioners or move above that level. At management level, thought has been given to career progression and succession planning so that good managers have the opportunity to go further.