HEALTH bosses in North Yorkshire have vowed to listen to their staff’s worries after their organisation was ranked among the UK’s worst on a string of issues.

The Healthcare Commission’s sixth annual survey of health workers has revealed NHS North Yorkshire and York slipped into the bottom 20 per cent of similar bodies on 20 of 36 areas covered during 2008.

These included employees’ satisfaction with their jobs and the patient care they offer, the amount of pressure on them and several training issues.

But the organisation was among the top primary care trusts for how staff feel valued by colleagues – a 90 per cent score – how interesting their roles are, and availability of hand-washing facilities.

York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was lauded by staff on the care they feel they can provide, the difference their work makes to patients, job satisfaction and happiness in their roles – all earning above-average ratings.

However, concerns surrounded the quality of appraisals and health and safety training employees receive and the number who had recently witnessed errors, near-misses or incidents.

“The survey covers a number of key areas and highlights some positive results,” said NHS North Yorkshire and York’s chief executive, Jayne Brown. “Eighty-four per cent of staff agree they have an interesting job and many staff feel the organisation ensures good availability of hand-washing materials.

“We have also seen a significant decrease in the number of staff experiencing work-related stress and 92 per cent of staff believe our organisation provides equal opportunity for progression and promotion.

“In other areas, staff highlighted some concerns and we have already put in place a number of measures to address their specific concerns. We will also continue to work with staff to identify areas where we can make further improvements.”

Peta Hayward, York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s director of human resources, picked out its rankings for hand-washing facilities, job satisfaction levels and procedures for reporting incidents – as well as the numbers who would recommend working there – as cause for praise.

“I believe this reflects that, in general, our staff feel positive about their jobs and working at the trust, and we continue to work to develop it as a great employer,” she said.

“We have already taken action to improve the take-up of health and safety training by incorporating this into the trust’s statutory and mandatory training programme.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) received positive marks for how content its workers are and how safe they feel from harassment and verbal abuse from patients, but was below average on how interesting staff feel their jobs are and the pressure they believe their work entails.

Chief executive Martyn Pritchard said: “Yorkshire Ambulance Service is pleased with the progress made in a number of areas in this year’s staff survey and is committed to making further improvements.


How your health organisation performed


The good

NHS North Yorkshire and York (ranked in previous guise as North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust)

* 90 per cent of staff felt valued by their work colleagues – among the top 20 per cent of UK PCTs.

* 22 per cent said they had witnessed potentially harmful errors, near-misses or incidents in the month before being surveyed – above average.

* 12 per cent said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the year before being surveyed – better than the national PCT average and ten per cent fewer than during 2007.


York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

* 91 per cent agreed their role makes a difference to patients – above average for acute trusts.

* 83 per cent said they had an interesting job – among the top 20 per cent.

* 53 per cent would recommend the trust as a place to work – above average.


Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

* 69 per cent were satisfied with the quality of work and patient care they are able to deliver – above average for ambulance trusts.

* 37 per cent said they had experienced harassment, bullying and abuse from patients and/or relatives in the year before being surveyed – above average and nine per cent lower than during 2007.

* A 3.15 rating for job satisfaction (five being the highest rating) – above average and better than during 2007.


And the not-so-good...


NHS North Yorkshire and York

* 54 per cent were satisfied with the quality of work and patient care they are able to deliver – among the bottom 20 per cent of PCTs.

* 78 per cent said they had received job-relevant training, learning or development in the year before being surveyed – among the bottom 20 per cent.

* 35 per cent would recommend the trust as a place to work – among the bottom 20 per cent.


York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

* 44 per cent said they had been received an appraisal in the year before being surveyed – among the bottom 20 per cent of acute trusts.

* 61 per cent said they had received health and safety training in the year before being surveyed – among the bottom 20 per cent.

* 41 per cent said they had witnessed potentially harmful errors, near-misses or incidents in the month before being surveyed – below average.


Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

* 82 per cent said they had an interesting job – below average for ambulance trusts.

* A 3.16 rating for work pressure felt by staff (five being the highest level) – below average but a slight improvement on 2007.

* 83 per cent said they had witnessed AND reported an error, near-miss or incident in the month before being surveyed – below average.