Each year NHS staff are invited to take part in the NHS Staff Survey, the largest survey of staff opinion in the UK. It gathers views on staff experience at work around key areas, and includes:
- appraisal and development
- health and wellbeing
- staff engagement and involvement
- raising concerns.
How it works
The survey adopts a method of assessing overall NHS performance on people management, to help organisations understand and compare their own performance. There is a core section which is used by the Care Quality Commission as part of the ongoing monitoring of registration compliance.
The staff engagement element of the survey looks at the three dimensions of engagement:
- the levels of motivation and satisfaction
- involvement
- willingness to be an advocate of the service.
The scores across all three dimensions are converted into an overall staff engagement score, which is an index of staff engagement in the organisation. Staff engagement is the only area for which the survey does this. It is designed to assist in tracking staff engagement and enable comparison between organisations.
Traditionally the NHS scores high on levels of motivation and satisfaction but with variable levels of involvement and advocacy, and overall scores have improved in recent years. The survey also shows that the NHS compares well with other organisations in the economy and with the civil service and local authorities, though the wide range of performance is an ongoing concern and there is scope for improvement.