Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) improve the work environment of NHS Workers.

The Government recognises the pressures that National Health Service staff are under and is proposing to improve the working environment for NHS staff by offering more flexible working, improving staff health and wellbeing, tackling bullying and violence against NHS staff. This will complement the work ongoing across the NHS, championed by NHS England, to ensure staff have a better working environment.

The Department uses staff engagement as a proxy for measuring NHS staff morale and the 2016 NHS Staff Survey showed an improvement in the overall engagement score for the NHS. This score combines staff recommending their organisation as a place to work or receive treatment, staff motivation at work and how much staff are able to contribute towards improvement at work.

NHS Employers is also working with NHS England and Public Health England on NHS England’s initiative[1] to improve staff health and wellbeing which includes a “CQUIN”[2] (Commissioning for Quality and Innovation), a new three part indicator focussing on getting staff better access to health and wellbeing initiatives, supporting them to make healthy choices and lead healthy lives.

Notes:

¹https://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/09/improving-staff-health/

²https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/cquin-guidance-16-17-v3.pdf