CSS News

Today we are launching our 2024 NHS Staff Survey.

Thousands of colleagues shared their views last year and we have been responding to the main themes of feedback you gave. Below is a quick overview of the six key areas you told us were the most important to you, and the work that is ongoing in those areas:

• Career progression and management support – You told us that you wanted more opportunities for career development and progression, so in July we launched our Careers Hub, which is already supporting over 75 of our admin and clerical colleagues through ‘career conversations’ and will soon be rolling out to more staff groups to support you in developing your career in the NHS.Alongside this,our Management Brilliance programme has seen 1,300 line managers start their management self-assessment in just over eight weeks, helping them to improve their management skills and be signposted to relevant guidance and training.

• Removing organisational barriers to flexible working – You told us you wanted the ability to work more flexibly, and we continue to make progress in this area, with early indications from a flexible working pilot showing no signs of reduced efficiency. Flexible working encompasses a variety of approaches beyond just working from home and we are currently reviewing our Flexible Working Policy to explore further improvements.

• Safety and affordability of car parking and transport – We have started work to introduce Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology across all of our sites, allowing us to effectively manage car parking usage, traffic flow and capacity. This information will allow us to explore the possibility of a car-share scheme which will offer significant reductions in car parking costs and more flexibility in permit types and allocation.

• Improving our food offer for staff – We recently completed the renovation works on The Gallery at NMGH, as well as developing the food offer at Oxford Road Campus through the addition of new units and extending the lease of the popular Have a Banana Wholefoods. We are also progressing projects at our WTWA sites which we will share more on in the coming months. 

• Tackling inequalities – We have begun working more closely with our Staff Networks to ensure that their lived experience is shaping our development of policies, procedures and support. We’ve also been utilising our Change Agent network to gain valuable insights into the experience of our colleagues at MFT. The network has already delivered over 150 events across the Trust and will be looking for new colleagues to join when the next recruitment window opens.

• The quality and value of appraisal – Work is underway to improve the appraisal experience by redesigning the conversation format and exploring options to digitise the process. The future digital appraisal process will be led by you, allowing you to shape the conversation to best support your career, while also helping us identify key support and development opportunities across the Trust.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing more information about this work, including stories from staff involved, demonstrating how valuable it is for you to have your say in this year’s survey.

Your views are valuable to us and therefore it is important that as many of you as possible complete your survey. The survey is completely confidential and should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete, so please do try to find the time to have your say.

Every MFT colleague who completes their survey will be entered into a prize draw to win one of ten £100 shopping vouchers as a token of thanks for your time. The earlier you complete your survey, the more opportunities you’ll have to win.

You can find more information on the survey below and on the People Place.

Kind regards,

Julia Bridgewater

Group Deputy Chief Executive

How to complete your survey

Today you will receive an e-mail from our independent survey contractors IQVIA, inviting you to participate in this year’s survey. You will find your invitation e-mail, which includes your unique link to the survey, in your MFT inbox from nhsstaffsurvey@iqvia.com along with the email subject heading: [EXTERNAL] NHS Staff Survey 2024 Invitation: Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

Some areas will also receive paper copies of the survey, which can be returned via post using the pre-paid envelope provided.

The survey is run independently and what you say is kept confidential and anonymous, all completed surveys go directly back to IQVIA and not MFT. Once the survey period is over, results are sent back to MFT in summary form, and do not reveal the identity of any staff surveyed.

More information about the survey is available at www.nhsstaffsurveys.com