National survey reveals Kent NHS trust to be among the best

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is still one of the best trusts to work for, according to its staff in the annual national NHS Staff Survey.

According to the latest results, three-quarters of colleagues said the trust took positive action on health and wellbeing, with seven out of 10 people saying they would recommend the organisation as a place to work – five per cent higher than other community trusts.

The results show KCHFT is ranked fifth in the country among community NHS trusts, with eight out of 10 colleagues also saying they would recommend the care provided by colleagues to their friends and family.

In all seven NHS people promises, KCHFT scored significantly higher when compared to similar organisations.

Chief People Officer, Victoria Robinson-Collins said: “The results tell us KCHFT is a good place to work and our colleagues feel supported and happy. I’m particularly proud of the scores for compassion and inclusion, flexible working and working as a team as these are all things that add significant value and joy to people at work.

“There was an improvement in colleagues feeling we take positive action on looking after their health and wellbeing, with a significant increase in people feeling they have a good work-life balance. The answers gave a positive view of colleague experience at work, including feeling valued by their team and having managers who respect and care about them.

“However, we won’t be complacent. We know some colleagues are still feeling tired and burnt out and we have to find ways to fix this.  We need to listen and support our colleagues who reported their experience is not what we would aspire to.”

“I want to say how proud we all are of #TeamKCHFT for their outstanding efforts as always. Each and every one of our colleagues make us #KCHFTProud.”

More than 3,000 colleagues at KCHFT responded to the annual survey, representing 61 per cent of the workforce. The survey gives NHS colleagues the opportunity to feed back on their experiences and helps everyone shape the future direction of the organisation.

The questions were grouped into nine themes and in the majority of these, KCHFT scored higher than similar community trusts, with staff engagement and morale remaining high-scoring, as in previous years.

KCHFT colleagues also said:

• there are frequent opportunities to show initiative in their role and feel supported to develop their potential
• they feel satisfied with the recognition they get for good work and are given regular feedback about changes
• they enjoy working with the colleagues in their team, who make them feel valued, are kind and treat each other with respect
• the care of patients and service users is the organisation's top priority.

You can read our full, benchmarked results at: www.nhsstaffsurveyresults.com.