NHS staff concerns laid out in a report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 16 2011

Nearly one third of NHS staff say basic hygiene supplies such as hot water and soap are not always available when they need them. This was revealed in a comprehensive survey of the workforce. A third of workers said they would not be happy with the standard of care provided by their hospital if family or friends needed treatment, or had witnessed potentially dangerous errors in the past month. Many complained of bullying by colleagues and managers. Nearly 40% complained that low staffing levels prevented them from doing their jobs properly. The survey was completed by some 165,000 employees across England’s 388 trusts. This is the eighth annual NHS Staff Survey, collated by the Care Quality Commission watchdog.

According to Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), “Nurses and healthcare assistants are telling us that staffing levels are compromising their ability to provide high-quality care, and we urge employers and the Government to listen to staff concerns as they embark on a massive overhaul of the way the NHS is run.” The survey found that the vast majority (90 per cent) of those questioned in 2010 believed their roles made a difference to patients and were satisfied (87 per cent) with the level of care they provided. However only 64 per cent of respondents thought they would be happy if a friend, family or relative was treated. Just over half (53 per cent) would recommend working at their trust.

In spite of the risk of getting fatal infections like MRSA and C.Diff in wards, there is a shortage of hot water, soap and paper towels or sanitizing alcohol rubs. In the 2009 survey 71% of the staff had reported these were available. In the 2010 survey this fell to 68%. Only 60 per cent said patients were always able to wash their own hands, down from 63 per cent the previous year.

In total 32 per cent of staff said they had seen at least one error, “near miss” or incident that could have hurt staff or patients in the last month, although this represented a small improvement on the 33 per cent recorded in 2009.

8 per cent of the workers had experiences of physical violence at the hands of patients or relatives and 15 per cent the victims of bullying, harassment or abuse. Ambulance workers and those at mental health trusts were particularly likely to have suffered violent attacks. Almost one in six (15 per cent) health workers said they had been bullied or abused by their own managers or other colleagues. As a result of all the negative factors, 29 per cent said they often felt like leaving their jobs. Also 42 per cent believed they “cannot meet all the conflicting demands” and 45 per cent did not think there were enough staff at their workplace for them to do their job properly.

Despite these grim findings, the survey was welcomed by many NHS organizations. The junior Health Minister, Simon Burns, said, “The survey shows that NHS organizations are continuing to make improvements for their staff in many areas. This is vital to the delivery of our overriding goal for a modern NHS – to give more control to front line staff to produce high quality care and improved health outcomes for patients that are among the best in the world…The results demonstrate that staff remain focused in their delivery of high quality care. That is a sign of the commitment, professionalism and hard work of those who work in the NHS – we expect it to continue as we move to a system that is more responsive to the views of staff and patients.”

Cynthia Bower, chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, said, “This is an important survey because it provides a snapshot of how those who work within the NHS feel about what they do and the experiences they have at work.” Joyce Robbins, of the pressure group Patient Concern, added, “The feedback we get is that too many staff and patients think it’s a conveyor belt system where there isn’t enough time to treat people as individuals.” Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, also said, “It’s very worrying when people working in the NHS cannot recommend the service to family or friends.”