The results of the 2012 NHS staff survey have been published today. A total of 202,000 NHS staff were invited to participate by postal questionnaire. Responses were received from 101,000 staff, a response rate of 50% (compared to 53.7% in 2010).
The results are primarily intended for use by NHS organisations to help them review and improve staff experience so that staff can provide better patient care. The Care Quality Commission will use the results from the survey to monitor ongoing compliance with essential standards of quality and safety. The NHS Commissioning Board will use the results to help make better commissioning decisions. The survey will also support accountability of the Secretary of State for Health to Parliament for delivery of the NHS Constitution.
Improvements have been made in some key areas and levels of job satisfaction and staff engagement have improved on last year. The number of frontline staff happy to recommend their trust as a place to work or receive treatment remains stable. Of 28 key findings, 11 were better than in 2011, 1 remained the same, 9 deteriorated and 7 cannot be compared to previous results due to changes in the questions
Overall, staff engagement improved in all types of trust. Staff in community trusts and social enterprises continue to be the most engaged in the NHS.
The survey results can be viewed at the National NHS Staff Survey Co-ordination Centre
All full time and part time staff who were directly employed by an NHS organisation on 1 September 2012 were eligible to respond. Fieldwork for the survey was carried out between late September and early December 2012. Primary care trusts were permitted to opt out of the survey as they will cease to exist from 1 April 2013 under new NHS structures and would therefore be unable to respond to survey results.
See statistical press notice: the 2012 NHS Staff Survey in England
For further information see results of 2012 NHS staff survey