Staff say they feel valued as KCHFT hits highest ever survey response rate

Against the backdrop of another challenging winter and industrial action across the NHS, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) received its highest ever response to the national staff survey.

In results published today, 70 per cent of our colleagues, more than 3,500 people, took part in the yearly survey for NHS staff. The survey gives people the opportunity to feed back on their experiences and reflect how they are feeling as a member of #TeamKCHFT.

Chief Executive Mairead McCormick said: “To have such a high response rate, and results that are largely positive, is remarkable. I hope this reflects that our colleagues feel, at KCHFT their voice counts and will be heard.”

The questions were grouped into nine themes and in the majority of these, KCHFT scored significantly higher than similar community trusts in the country. Results showed staff feel supported and feel valued by their teams and colleagues, which echoes the previous year’s results.

There was a significant reduction in colleagues saying they had experienced discrimination, including religious, sexual, or gender discrimination. Mairead said: “This improvement is fantastic to see and a testament to the work and effort put into our Nobody Left Behind inclusivity programme.”

Flexible working and learning and development opportunities continue to be a success for the trust. Eight out of 10 people said they can talk openly about flexible working with their line manager and eight out of 10 said they have the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills at KCHFT.

Health and wellbeing remained an important focus, with seven out of 10 people saying the organisation takes positive action to support their wellbeing.

There was a decrease in the number of people saying they would consider a move away from KCHFT if they were looking for a new job and an increase of people saying they would recommend the trust as a good place to work. Following the national pay deal, there was a five per cent increase in staff saying they are satisfied with their level of pay.

Mairead said: “These results show we are listening to our staff and doing a better job of retaining and supporting people to stay with us.

“Colleagues across KCHFT will now be looking at the results in detail and identifying opportunities for us to continue to improve people’s working lives, because we know this has a positive impact on the care we give to patients.

“I feel proud every day to be the chief executive of this organisation. I am proud to work with committed, caring professionals and want to make sure we can make this a great place to work for our staff and future colleagues.”

You can find KCHFT’s 2023 national staff survey results online.