NHS Staff Survey - do we know what we are talking about?

The 2009 NHS staff survey is now out. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges did some more analysis of the findings. Having looked at it, my reading of it shows that (Note that though I am using consultant response figures here, broadly similar inferences can be made from all other staff responses as well):

a) Though 50% of consultants agreed that they understand their role and where it fits in' 100% of consultants felt their role made a difference. That says a lot about clinical engagement and culture in the NHS. You don't know what your role is but you assign yourself such a high value that you know it makes a difference. If you did not know what your role was how can you made a difference! And wonder how they knew that they made a difference when only 27% felt they had a well structured appraisal (is the appraisal not trusted?).

b) 74% of consultants but only 50% of trainees felt that can contribute towards improvement.

There are many other interesting inferences that can be made and I am happy to share the analysis if you wanted.

What is very important for successful healthcare is for the people to be very self aware (soft skills) and have the knowledge on how to make improvements (technical skills of improvement). Healthcare is full of absolutely brilliant people with high qualifications and often very scientific minds who think that either they have the people and improvement skills already or such skills are not very relevant to day-to-day clinical practice. That gap needs to be addressed. It is possible to do so.

Find out how your place is doing http://www.cqc.org.uk

 

Success in Healthcare

Welcome

Healthcare is actually a success story. It is also a story full of missed opportunities. It is my firm belief that if that gap is bridged, healthcare professionals' full potential will be realised. My role in my hospital and elsewhere is to explore the possibility of bridging that gap.

However, I do not blog in my official capacity as an NHS employee. I write in my personal capacity. Yes, I will write about my work but it will be with care not reveal any identifiable details about my colleagues or patients unless they give me any needed permissions. You will not find many NHS hospital doctors blogging openly using their real names; hence this is an experiment of sorts. Let us see how it works. Further, please do not assume that everything I write is about my own work or my own hospital; the stuff may be from far and wide, closer to your place than mine.

I have not blogged before, so bear with me till I get fluent. Please feel free to question and comment on these pages. Tell me you love the blog; tell my why you don't love it.

Let me begin by saying that my blog is a big tribute and a profound thanks to all my colleagues current and past - doctors, nurses, other clinicians, managers and non-clinical people, who work very hard in doing their very best every day for the benefit of their/our/my patients. If this blog made their lives a little bit easier we will begin to see Success in Healthcare.

Thank you.