Trust-wide initiatives; addressing the big issues
Every year, the whole of the NHS is invited to complete the NHS Staff Survey, one of the largest workforce surveys in the world, and is intended to improve staff experience across the whole of the NHS. Here at CWPT, we take your experience of working in the Trust seriously, and that's why the staff survey results really matter.
What did the 2024 staff survey tell us?
In 2024, more staff than ever before took the time to complete the NHS Staff Survey, giving us increased confidence that the findings of the survey are more representative of our organisation than ever before. There were some positive improvements in the 2024 results, such as:
- A significant increase in the number of staff reporting there are enough staff for me to do my job properly .
- A reduction in number of staff reporting they are working unpaid hours.
- A significant increase in number of staff saying yes to the statement: The last time you experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, did you or a colleague report it.
- The Trust is performing significantly better than sector for appraisal rates and has seen improvements in scores relating to appraisal effectiveness.
- The Trust scores better than the sector average for the People Promise (PP) theme We are always learning.
- We have slightly improved our overall scores compared to last year for Morale and PP themes: We are safe and healthy , We are always learning , We work flexibly , We are a team .
- The Trust has significantly improved in 5 questions compared to last year.
The results did however highlight some specific opportunities for improvement, identified as:
- The Trust should work to reducing instances of violence towards staff.
- The Trust should improve staff confidence to raise concerns about patient safety, and ensure staff feel that if they did speak up, they have confidence that the organisation would address their concerns.
- The Trust should ensure that staff will be treated fairly if they are involved in an error, near miss or incident.
- The Trust should remind staff of the breadth of health and wellbeing initiatives available to them.
- The Trust should continue to develop team effectiveness, ensuring all teams have a regular meeting to discuss effectiveness, that they work well together to achieve overall trust objectives, and that staff feel like they have autonomy in relation to their areas of work.
To address the areas of focus, a single overarching action plan was generated. This also incorporated directorate, department and professional group plans based on their local results.
Reducing Violence
The delivery plan for Violence and Restrictive Practice Reduction Strategy has begun, with the aim of reducing violent incidents by 20% and use of restraint by 20%. Monitoring and governance of this work is taking place at Board, operational and local level. The trauma informed care training continues, and 'safety huddles' and the 10 'Safewards' initiative are in the process of being embedded on all wards. All wards will have an identified resource to support de-escalation, such as a quiet room or sensory room and all wards will co-produce reducing restrictive practice commitments and ensure views of those with lived experience are captured in training. Post incident support will be improved and audited, with the aim of increasing staff engaging in post incident process by 20%.
Meanwhile, the No Excuse for Abuse Campaign has been refreshed. Security Specialist Will Fuller has been visiting sites across the Trust to speak to colleagues, raise awareness of the process when reporting a violent incident and reiterate the support offered by the Trust. Messaging and posters for staff and managers has been shared to ensure staff know the process to report incidents, while recent examples of prosecutions have been publicised internally and externally to give confidence to colleagues that tough action will be taken where appropriate.
Freedom to Speak Up
The arrival of the two new Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) Guardians, has enhanced the support the Trust offers to colleagues who raise concerns or report incidents. This increased support has been publicised using a number of videos, refreshed intranet pages, internal messages and posters. New leaflets have been issued as well as other materials to raise awareness and visibility of the FTSU team such as a new roll up banner for events and lanyards for the FTSU Champions. The FTSU Guardians have been using events such as Executive Brief and network meetings across the Trust to explain what they do and encourage people to report any concerns.
Active Bystander training is also being rolled out across the organisation to empower staff to call out bad behaviour before it escalates to the level of freedom to speak up interventions.
Giving people a voice and team effectiveness
A new monthly 'Executive Brief' session has been introduced, giving all staff opportunities to meet local leaders and members of the Trust Board, ask questions and hear key developments at service and Trust-wide level. Sessions held so far have had good levels of engagement both online and in-person. Based on staff feedback we continue to develop and improve the format of these sessions which aim to increase the visibility of senior staff and help all colleagues feel able to raise any questions or concerns. They also help staff hear about what is happening in the Trust, what may impact their teams and how to get involved. Ultimately, it is hoped that the sessions will foster a culture of more open dialogue.
Complementing this, a new 'Team Brief' has been developed to assist managers deliver key messages to staff, and ensure teams know what is happening across the Trust. The tool is designed to ensure the most relevant national, organisational, directorate and team level information reaches staff and gives managers a simple way of doing this without overloading their colleagues with separate messages and unnecessary detail. Launched in the summer of 2025, Team Brief is issued alongside process guides to ensure managers use it effectively.
Civility
We recognise that how we communicate with one another-colleagues, service users, and partners-has a profound impact on wellbeing, trust, and the quality of care we provide. In line with our commitment to becoming a more trauma informed organisation, we are establishing a Trauma Informed Interpersonal Communications Working Group to shape our approach to interpersonal communications and lead the way to embedding civility and kindness as standard.
This group will focus on developing practical guidelines for staff that embed trauma informed principles into everyday interpersonal communications. Our aim is to foster a culture where we consistently apply a "think trauma first" approach-acknowledging that past experiences can shape how people perceive and respond to interactions. This means being mindful, respectful, and compassionate in how we speak and listen to one another.
Civility is a cornerstone of this work. Evidence shows that respectful and civil workplace cultures not only improve staff wellbeing and retention, but also enhance patient safety and outcomes. By promoting trauma informed, kind and civil interpersonal communication, we are investing in a healthier, more supportive environment for everyone. The working group will report into the CWPT Trauma Informed Care Steering Group, ensuring alignment with our broader strategic goals and embedding this work across the Trust.
