Andy Childerhouse, CEO, ViewPoint, considers why engaging NHS staff is critical to get staff support and wellbeing right.
NHS staff hold the key to delivering essential information about how the NHS is coping during the Covid-19 pandemic. Effective listening and reporting on the frontline insight is essential to enable hospital leadership teams to target the right support in the right areas at the right time.
As we are heading into the second wave of Covid-19, and no-one knows the effect this will have on the healthcare sector better than the staff within the nation’s hospital walls. Still recovering from the first hit, staff know the pressures they are about to face. And they know it will be a constant battle for the next 6 months – at least.
Focusing on the well-being of all NHS staff
If our NHS teams struggle the whole country will suffer, therefore looking after staff as they look after their communities is going to be an essential, albeit substantial, challenge. To minimise the potentially devastating effects of the pandemic, the insightful voice from the frontline must be embedded into the strategic planning and tactical decision making.
Liverpool NHS Trust know this full well. During the first wave, they recognised the essential need to understand the key issues facing their team. And they needed to achieve this without fuss or extra burden. They therefore quickly installed in-the-moment feedback kiosks to help capture this critical insight. In a matter of weeks, 6000 individual responses came in, from front line staff telling their leaders about the impact of Covid on the workforce, along with critical information about how to address some of the fixable problems.
“A stitch in time saves nine”
As we head in to the second wave, ViewPoint feedback have made their Covid survey available for trusts across the country for them to collect the insights they need. The targeted Staff Matter Covid Survey will give every employee in every hospital environment the equal opportunity to instantly feedback on their day.
The argument for using in-the-moment feedback devices is convincing. Online or paper surveys simply cannot compete with the universal accessibility, timeliness, and flexibility in questions that touchless or touchscreen kiosks allow.
The Staff Matter Covid Survey is centered around the provision of PPE, staff safety, emotional well-being, support, and the effectiveness of communication. This critical information enables leadership teams to actively monitor the tide of thoughts and feelings, thus showing which areas to tackle first. The ready-to-go survey can be deployed into key hospital locations within days. Responses will be ready for review just moments later. Live links to view current data can be shared as needed, and daily or even hourly reports can be available to decision-makers on demand.
