A report published by The Point of Care Foundation shows that the way healthcare staff feel about their work has a direct impact on the quality of patient care as well as on an organisation’s efficiency and financial performance.
The report, 'Staff Care: how to engage staff in the NHS and why it matters', argues that it is not only necessary for healthcare providers to encourage staff engagement (the process by which staff come to have a positive attitude towards the organisation and its values) but to accelerate it. The report, which reviewed evidence from a wide range of sources, highlights that:
- Patient satisfaction is consistently higher in Trusts with better rates of staff health and wellbeing.
- There is a link between higher staff satisfaction and lower rates of mortality and hospital-acquired
infection.
- The NHS could save £555 million a year if it reduced sickness absence by a third.
- Stress and burnout are more frequent in the NHS than in other sectors. Approximately 30% of
sickness absence in the NHS is due to stress.
It also points out that NHS staff engagement fell for three consecutive years from 2009 before rising very slightly in 2012. Only 55% of staff would recommend their organisation as a place to work. For further information, visit: www.pointofcarefoundation.org.uk/Downloads/Staff-Report-2014.pdf
