Staff survey ranks Sussex and Surrey NHS trust among best in country

The trust was ranked highly as a place to work and receive care in the latest national survey of NHS employees.

Staff rated the organisation the best in the country among comparable acute trusts when asked if they would recommend it as a place to work, SASH said.

SASH was also ranked highest in the country among comparable trusts when staff were asked whether care of patients is the organisation’s top priority.

The trust serves east Surrey, north-east West Sussex, and South Croydon, including Horsham and Crawley.

In January 2019 Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust was rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.

Employees completed the survey in October and November 2019.

A SASH spokesman said: “Their feedback showed SASH as having a positive safety culture, ranking the organisation the highest in the country for acting on concerns raised by patients.

“The organisation also received the highest ranking for the quality of appraisals and receiving support from managers for training, learning or development.”

Sixty-three per cent of SASH staff gave feedback – more than the national average of 48 per cent, he added.

Michael Wilson CBE, chief executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “I am delighted that our staff have given us lots of positive feedback in this latest survey. They work tirelessly to look after our community every day and night, all year round, so it is vital that we listen to their feedback about what we do well and what we could improve.

“We are determined to make SASH the best place to work so will analyse these results carefully to help us make more improvements.

“We know that if we can get things right for our staff, this has a really positive impact on the quality of care our patients experience too.”

In recent months SASH has introduced a range of measures to improve working life for its staff, the spokesman said.

He added SASH has put on more wellbeing and fitness classes, introduced an innovative peer-to-peer support network for staff who have experienced a challenging incident and made more rest areas available for staff to take breaks at night.

The spokesman said: “These measures, coupled with an extensive recruitment drive, mean SASH has over 95 per cent of its posts filled by permanent staff, including over 99 per cent of nursing posts filled – its best rate for years.”