Staff at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust have recently shared their views in a survey on several themes, helping to shape the picture of what the trust is like as a place to work and to receive care.

The annual NHS Staff Survey report for the trust has revealed several data sets providing a detailed insight into how staff feel about culture, their wellbeing, levels of engagement, motivation, equality, diversity and inclusion, safety, and quality of care at their place of work.

The results of the survey, which was completed by around 3,000 members of staff, have revealed a number a successful things about the trust as well as places the trust needs to improve moving forward.

For the second year running, staff said the trust is ‘compassionate and inclusive’ and data also saw a jump in the ‘we work flexibly’ element, with all four questions in this area improving between 2 and 5.2 per cent.

The trust said it is great to see that the measures put in place, such as their new flexible working guidance, policy and training may be starting to have an impact.

In the data sets, it also shows that health and wellbeing scores are up compared to last year.

An extra 2.3 per cent of staff feel that the trust takes positive action on health and wellbeing and less people report feeling pressure from their manager to come to work when ill.

Another highlight is the increase in the ‘we are always learning element’.

According to the trust, although they still remain slightly below the sector average, they are showing signs of improvement and it is ‘particularly pleasing’ that this includes higher quality appraisal conversations that help colleagues do their job, agree clear objectives and leave them feeling valued – this has been a big focus of the wave three Listening into Action programme of work.

Within the staff survey, there are also important improvements which have been noted in the levels of discrimination based on ethnic background, although there is still discrimination being felt by staff.

The data shows 36.3 per cent said they experienced ethnic discrimination in 2021 compared to 29.7 per cent in 2022.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “This is something we need to continue to improve, through mechanisms such as our civility and respect training and our new Zero Tolerance to racism campaign which reinforces the message that we will not accept any discrimination, bullying or pre-judgement towards any members of staff or service users in any circumstances. 

“The results have highlighted that we are either equal to or higher than the average in six out of nine question sets and while we have focused on the positive scores we should take pride in, it’s also right that we recognise where more work needs to be done.”

LSCFT said this year has ‘brought yet more challenges with the cost-of-living crisis’ and the ‘large scale industrial/strike action happening within the NHS’ and it is therefore ‘unsurprising’ that they have seen a decline in the number of staff who are satisfied with their pay.

Figures show the satisfaction with pay is down 9.6 per cent on last year.

The trust also said that whilst they have seen discrimination related to ethnicity decrease, it is ‘disheartening’ that this isn’t the case for all forms of discrimination, with age and gender-based prejudice being amongst those to see increases.

In 2021, 20.5 per cent of staff said they had experienced gender discrimination and in 2022 this increased to 22.3 per cent.

In terms of age discrimination, 22.1 per cent of staff said they experienced it in 2021 which increased to 26.6 per cent in 2022.

A spokesperson for LSCFT said: “This is something we take very seriously, and we would strongly encourage members of staff to feel empowered to speak up about their experiences – whether that be to a senior manager, Freedom to Speak Up Guardian or Ambassador, staff side colleagues, staff inclusion networks, human resources or diversity and inclusion teams.

“We recognise that times are tough for many of our colleagues, and we want them to know that we are listening, so that we can take action and support them as best we can.  

“Over 100 teams within the trust will receive more tailored results and we’ll work with our networks and directorates to ensure that there are opportunities for colleagues to directly influence some of the improvements we make.

“Areas we are already working on include team and leadership development, continued focus on flexible working, health and wellbeing, meaningful appraisal and development opportunities and our inclusion and retention programmes.”

The full survey results for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, can be accessed online here.