Poole Hospital gets best ever result in NHS national staff survey

The results put the trust in the top 20 per cent nationally in almost half of the 32 question areas, with 'communication between staff and management', 'equal opportunities for career progression' and 'being valued and recognised' among those categories scoring particularly highly.

They are a significant improvement on the 2014 results, when the trust appeared in the top 20 per cent in just three areas.

Judy Saunders, the hospital's director of human resources and organisational development, said the marked improvement reflected a range of efforts from staff in leadership roles throughout the hospital.

"This is the first time that we have surveyed all our staff rather than just a sample, and we are absolutely delighted with what they have said about the trust in this year’s survey," she said.

"A lot of work has been undertaken by senior staff and teams since the last survey, with each area having devised their own local action plan to improve the experience of their staff."

Changes made by the trust include the introduction of a new leadership development programme, a greater emphasis on staff engagement, more frequent team meetings, improving support and training to staff who reported experiencing harassment or violence, departments developing new ways to communicate with their staff, and questionnaires that give staff a chance to air their views on a regular basis.

The report also highlighted a number of areas that could still be improved, including staff working extra hours and witnessing potentially harmful errors.

Also, more staff felt they were experiencing physical violence from patients, relatives or the public than was the average across the country.

"Our performance this year is excellent, but we are not complacent," said Ms Saunders.

"We will work hard to continue to improve our performance in those areas that have been identified in the report as less satisfactory."

More than 1,400 staff at the hospital took part in the survey.