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Staff Survey Launches Today: Take 15 minutes to fill it in

October 2, 2023

The 2023 staff survey is now open, and you will shortly (if not already) be receiving your invitation to have your say.

By taking part in the survey, your views will be heard by not only SWB but by the region, and key decision makers nationally and used to inform policy and improvements around your priorities such as safety, wellbeing, working decisions and pay. By completing this survey once, your voice will be heard by numerous data users.

As a result of your feedback in surveys, we developed our SWB People Plan, which sets out how we will deliver on our People objective – to cultivate and sustain happy, productive, and engaged staff.  It is a three-year plan which focuses on staff morale, satisfaction, and wellbeing.  It is not a workforce plan which focuses purely on numbers and recruitment.

Our wish is for SWB to be a workplace in which colleagues can realise a healthy work/life balance, to feel safe and respected and to feel fulfilled. A place where people seek to work, in which they feel a sense of pride and a workplace in which everyone thrives.

Please do take 15 minutes of your time to complete the survey when it arrives – for many of you this will be via e-mail, but for those who don’t have regular access to a computer (porters, ward services and catering) it will be delivered to your home address.

For the first time, the survey will also be sent to bank only staff, who play a vital role in supporting our organisation, so it is only right that they are given the opportunity to have their say too.

Watch this short video from Trust Chair, Sir David Nicholson as he talks about the importance of the staff survey.

The survey closes on Friday 24 November.

A new provider

For 2023, we have a brand-new staff survey provider, Picker, who have taken over from Quality Health.

This means that some things might look slightly different to what you are used to, crucially, the e-mail address that your survey arrives from has changed.

It will now be called Staff Survey 2023 and come from picker_surveys@picker.org

You can find out more about Picker and how they protect your data and confidentiality by watching this short video:

Be in it to win it

As a thank you for taking the time to feedback, we have some prizes on offer!

The first 100 people who complete their survey will go into a prize draw to win £200 worth of shopping vouchers – so it’s worth getting in there quickly.

We also have six £50 vouchers to give away – everyone who takes the survey will be entered into a draw for these.

Finally – we have team prizes available for those teams and departments who get the highest percentage of colleagues completing the survey – so it’s definitely worth encouraging your colleagues to complete their survey.

The NHS People Promise

The annual NHS Staff Survey has been aligned with the People Promise. A promise to ensure that every voice is heard from every background and across every role.

The NHS People Promise

This is a promise we must all make to each other – to work together to improve the experience of working in the NHS for everyone.

  • We are compassionate and inclusive
  • We are recognised and rewarded
  • We each have a voice that counts
  • We are safe and healthy
  • We are always learning
  • We work flexibly
  • We are a team

We will listen, we will hear, and we will act.  This is our promise to you!

Find out more about the people promise by clicking here.

But is it really confidential?

One of the things we always hear being debated is the confidentiality of the staff survey. Please let us remind you that no one in the organisation, or the NHS, can identify individual responses. Your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and only themes will be shared with the Trust. Even if you talk about your individual teams, this information will be redacted before it reaches us. The bar code on the survey is used solely by Picker, the external contractor that runs the survey nationally, to identify which staff should be sent a reminder.

Find out more about the confidentiality of the survey and how it is managed by watching this short animation:

Staff Survey: Frequently Asked Questions

Through the duration of the survey, we will be answering some of your frequently asked questions, and we will also be giving you the opportunity to put some of them to Chief Executive, Richard Beeken (watch this space).

What is the purpose of the staff survey?

The NHS Staff Survey collects our NHS people’s views about working in their organisation. The results are used to improve local working conditions, and ultimately to improve patient care. The Survey is administered annually so views can be monitored over time. It also allows us to compare the experiences of our NHS people in similar organisations, and to compare the experiences of those in a particular organisation with the national picture.

Do staff have to complete the survey?

Participation is not compulsory, but our NHS people are strongly encouraged to use the opportunity to give their opinions and views about the organisation in which they work by completing the questionnaire. This gives each member of staff equal opportunity to have their voice heard.

It is important that as many people as possible complete the questionnaire to get a wide and representative understanding of the voice of our NHS People.