The results of the 2021 Staff Survey show Oxford Health has scored some impressive results plus our best ever response from those working across the Trust.

Thanks to the 3,263 people who completed the NHS Staff Survey in 2021 – 55 per cent and the highest response rate ever – we are able to gain a picture of how people feel about working at the Trust, providing a clear focus for improvement and highlighting areas where we should rightly feel proud.

For the first time, in 2021 the questions were aligned with the NHS People Promise to track progress against the national ambition to make the NHS the best workplace it can be.

Highlights to celebrate

The survey results revealed how the challenges of the past two years have brought staff together to care for others and support one another as a team.

It highlighted areas where there have been improvements and three areas where the trust is performing above the national average.

Staff feel:

We are compassionate and inclusive with staff thinking care of patients is the organisation’s top priority.

We are recognised and rewarded –colleagues feel involved by management, and recognised and valued for good work.

We each have a voice that counts – staff at Oxford Health feel confident to speak up about concerns and that these will be addressed.

Meanwhile the staff engagement score has remained steady and is now above the average compared to 2020 as engagement falls elsewhere in the country.

As always there are areas for improvement as the Trust listens to the feedback from colleagues in the Staff Survey and next steps include asking managers and teams to think and deliver one improvement using the ‘you said – we did’ approach to boost the experience of their work colleagues and ensure our patients & service users get the benefits from having high performing teams

The Trust has also identified three areas of trustwide development: Improved Personal Development Reviews, increasing team’s capacity by focusing on recruitment and retention and reducing the reliance on agency  and boosting flexible working arrangements to support work/life balance. That’s alongside ongoing work from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Wellbeing teams to continue to support staff with their wellbeing at work through the extensive number of staff networks and support groups and a dedicated wellbeing offer that includes physical, spiritual and psychological resources.

Trust chief executive Dr Nick Broughton said: “The key to our success is our people. It has been another challenging year for colleagues and I would like to thank each and every one of them for their hard work and dedication in the past year working to care for people in our local communities. Oxford Health is a rewarding place to work and this all comes down to getting the culture right. When we do that are able to meet the challenges of the year ahead and deliver the best care for people. That’s why its so important we celebrate the successes reflected in this year’s staff survey results and use the information to innovate and improve our workplace – making it even better in the years to come.”