NHS STAFF SURVEY 2013
A GUIDE TO THE CONTENT OF
THE CORE QUESTIONNAIRE
NHS STAFF SURVEY CO-ORDINATION CENTRE
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1.1 INTRODUCTION
There is good research evidence to suggest that staff attitudes and experiences have an
impact on how well staff do their job and this in turn affects the quality of patient care. It is
important, therefore, to conduct regular surveys of staff views about working life in the NHS
and use them to inform improvement and development plans.
In 2011, the Department of Health in agreement with ministers decided that the number of
mandatory core questions of the current staff survey should be significantly fewer. The
mandatory core questions should be confined to essential national information requirements,
based primarily on those measures that are evidenced statistically to link with higher quality
health outcomes, to support system regulation or to provide assurance to enable ministers to
fulfil their responsibilities to report to HM Parliament on the implementation of the NHS
Constitution. Therefore, in 2012 the questionnaire was reduced in length from 12 pages to 8
pages. It is hoped that this shorter core questionnaire will provide increased flexibility for
participating organisations to add their own tailored questions at local discretion.
This year’s questionnaire continues to include topics outlined in the NHS Constitution, which
had brought a renewed focus on the NHS as an employer. The NHS Constitution includes four
pledges to staff that set out, for the first time, what the NHS expects from its staff, and what
staff can expect from the NHS as an employer:
Pledge 1: To provide all staff with clear roles and responsibilities and rewarding jobs for
teams and individuals that make a difference to patients, their families and carers, and
to communities.
Pledge 2: To provide all staff with personal development plans, access to appropriate
training for their jobs and the support of line management to succeed.
Pledge 3: To provide support and opportunities for staff to maintain their health,
wellbeing and safety.
Pledge 4: To engage staff in decisions that affect them and the services they provide
individually, through representative organisations and through local partnership
working arrangements. All staff will be empowered to put forward better ways to
deliver better and safer services for patients and their families.
Findings from the 2013 NHS staff survey will be used by:
 Participating organisations to improve working conditions and practices at a local level to
make progress with involving and engaging staff.
 The Department of Health to assess the effectiveness of national workforce policies on for
example, training, flexible working safety at work.
 The Care Quality Commission as part of the ongoing monitoring of registration
compliance.
 Royal Colleges, professional bodies and trade unions to inform their policy and practice.
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1.2 THE QUESTIONNAIRE
The questionnaire is structured to cover the following:
 YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
 YOUR JOB
 YOUR MANAGERS
 YOUR ORGANISATION
 YOUR HEALTH, WELL-BEING AND SAFETY AT WORK
 BACKGROUND DETAILS
YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
This section asks about:
 types of training, learning and development received, including training related to equality
and diversity, health and safety, infection control and handling confidential information;
 the perceived benefits of training, learning and development to staff members, and;
 whether staff have been appraised and how useful staff find appraisals in helping to
improve how they do their jobs.
Research from many labour market sectors (including healthcare) has shown that staff who
receive training are more likely to perform well in their jobs. Results from previous surveys
have also shown that in trusts where more staff have received job relevant training; staff tend
to be more satisfied, are less likely to want to leave their jobs, and are less likely to have
witnessed errors, experienced violence or bullying, or to have suffered work-related injuries.
These survey questions will help trust managers to evaluate how successfully the NHS
Constitution Pledge 2 requirement has been met – that trusts should ‘provide staff with
access to appropriate training for their jobs’. These questions can also allow trusts to monitor
specific areas of training such as health and safety, infection control, or equality and diversity.
Staff Pledge 2 of the NHS Constitution also states that trusts are required to ‘provide staff
with personal development plans’. Questions in the NHS Staff Survey enable managers to see
how effective, and how widely implemented, appraisals and personal development plans
have been across their organisations. Results from previous surveys have shown that staff
who have had well-structured appraisals are more likely to be satisfied with their work, and
are less likely to suffer from work-related stress, or to experience violence or harassment at
work.
YOUR JOB
This section asks about different aspects of staff members’ jobs; in particular, whether staff:
 work in structured teams which have clear team objectives;
 feel they have clear roles and responsibilities, and are involved in decision making;
 have the necessary time and resources to carry out their job;
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feel satisfied with their job and support received from manager / work colleagues;
have opportunities to develop to their full potential;
feel that they have a job that makes a difference to patients;
can show initiative and bring about change in their work area, and;
are engaged in their jobs.
These survey questions will enable trusts to monitor the extent to which they are meeting the
NHS Constitution Staff Pledge 1 to ‘provide staff with clear roles and responsibilities’ and the
requirement for trusts to ‘make a difference to patients, their families and carers, and to
communities’. Many research studies have shown that staff who work in well-structured
teams, have well-designed jobs, receive good line management support, are more likely to be
satisfied with their work, and less likely to leave their employer.
Staff Pledge 4 states that ‘staff will be empowered to put forward ways to deliver better and
safer services for patients and their families’ and ‘engage staff in decisions that affect them
and the services’. Questions in the NHS Staff Survey allow trusts to examine the extent to
which staff feel they are able to provide high quality patient care and are motivated to
provide such care, and can show initiative and bring about change in their work area.
YOUR MANAGERS
Under Pledge 2 trusts are required to provide staff with ‘line management to succeed’ and so
this section looks at whether staff receive support, guidance and encouragement from
immediate managers with questions in the survey covering each of these areas.
This section also covers whether staff feel that senior managers involve them in decision
making and communicate well. Results from previous surveys have shown that if senior
managers across an organisation keep staff informed and involve them in decision making,
staff are more likely to be satisfied and less likely to want to leave their jobs. Better
communication is also associated with lower incidences of errors, injuries, work-related
stress, violence, and harassment, bullying and abuse.
YOUR ORGANISATION
The section ‘YOUR ORGANISATION’ looks at whether staff would recommend their
organisation as a place to work or receive treatment. Questions feed into Staff Pledge 1 and
the requirement for trusts to ‘make a difference to patients, their families and carers, and to
communities’.
This section also asks about the availability of hand washing materials. The Health Act (2006)
provides trusts with a code of practice for the prevention and control of healthcare associated
infections, while under Staff Pledge 3 of the NHS Constitution, trusts are required to ‘provide
support and opportunities for staff to maintain their health, wellbeing and safety’. Hand
washing and cleaner hospitals are a key part of this, and these questions allow trusts to
evaluate the availability of staff and public hand washing facilities. Research has also
illustrated strong associations between infection control and hygiene and the experiences of
patients whilst in hospital.
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YOUR HEALTH, WELL-BEING AND SAFETY AT WORK
This section will help organisations monitor the extent to which they are meeting the NHS
Constitution Staff Pledge 3 to ‘provide support and opportunities for staff to maintain their
health, wellbeing and safety’. In this section, staff are asked about:
 how they feel their job impacts on their health, and;
 whether they have attended work despite not feeling well enough to work and
whether staff have suffered from work-related stress.
Staff who suffer from work-related stress are more likely to miss work due to sickness
absence. The staff survey also allows managers to assess the extent to which employees
attend work despite not feeling well enough to work (otherwise known as presenteeism).
Staff are also asked:
 whether they have witnessed errors, near misses and incidents that could hurt patients or
staff, and;
 how they view their employers’ responses towards errors, near misses and incidents.
These questions will enable managers to measure the frequency of errors, near misses and
incidents that could hurt patients or staff, and to monitor whether errors and incidents are
reported. The results could also be used to assess whether or not the trust is felt to have a fair
and open reporting culture, which is a target promoted by the National Patient Safety Agency.
Where effective and fair systems are in place for reporting errors, staff are more likely to
report them and changes can be made to avoid the same errors occurring in the future.
Finally, this section covers:
 whether staff have experienced physical violence from patients, their relatives, members
of the public or their colleagues;
 whether staff have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, their
relatives, members of the public or their colleagues, and;
 whether staff then go on to report incidents of violence, harassment, bullying or abuse.
Results from previous surveys have shown that staff who have experienced physical violence
and harassment, bullying or abuse at work are likely to be less satisfied with their work, are
more likely to want to leave their jobs, and are more likely to suffer from work-related stress.
BACKGROUND DETAILS
The final section asks for details about the respondent, including:
 gender;
 age;
 ethnic background;
 sexual orientation;
 religion or belief;
 disability;
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face-to-face contact with patients / service users;
working hours;
length of time in the organisation, and;
occupational group.
We collect demographic and occupational group information so we can see how views vary
for different staff. For example, are particular staff groups exposed to more incidents of
violence than others? Staff group analyses are also important for evaluating the extent to
which NHS staff are being treated fairly and equitably.
These analyses help to identify problem areas for particular staff groups. Organisations are
then better able to investigate these problems and to implement effective local solutions.
1.3 FURTHER INFORMATION
If you would like any further information about the NHS Staff Survey, please contact the Coordination Centre:
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Website: www.nhsstaffsurveys.com
Advice Line: 01865 208141 (9.30am – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday)
E-mail: staffsurvey@pickereurope.ac.uk
Researchers from the Co-ordination Centre will provide practical support and advice to the
trusts as they conduct the survey.
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