A staff survey at Hinchingbrooke Hospital shows 13 areas where the trust is one of the worst 20 per cent in the country, but Circle says the hospital is improving.

The NHS staff survey 2013 highlighted a number of areas where Hinchingbrooke employees have raised concerns with the hospital falling into the worst 20 per cent including feeling their role makes a difference to patients, an increase in working overtime, receiving job-relevant training, receiving appraisals, experiencing bullying or harassment and feeling under pressure to go to work while unwell.

Other areas were staff satisfaction, having equality and diversity training, support from managers and effective team working.

The survey also showed Hinchingbrooke was in the bottom 20 per cent for staff witnessing potentially harmful errors or near misses, but also it was in the top 20 per cent for reporting such incidents.

While the survey pointed out well-known issues, staff experienced a fall in violent attacks by staff to rank the hospital in the top 20 per cent in the country.

It also showed that although a number of areas fell below the average, there was an increase in staff satisfaction. In the ‘I would recommend my organisation as a place to work’ section, the 2013 score, 52, was below the national average of 59, but higher than in 2012 when it scored 44.

Karen Webb, director of the Eastern region Royal College of Nursing, said: “There are very few positives to be taken. Staff motivation at Hinchingbrooke is higher than average. This is a credit to the hospital’s hard-working and committed staff but the highlights are few and far between.”

A Hinchingbrooke spokesperson said: “Our doctors, nurses and staff are our best asset – ensuring they feel engaged and able to deliver the best quality patient care is our top priority.

“We’ve made some big changes in the last year to make our leadership more visible, to support our staff and to empower them to improve services, and results are beginning to show.

“We’re pleased that in the vast majority of areas surveyed, we’ve seen steady improvements from last year, and in 25 areas, we’re outperforming the majority of the rest of the country.

“There’s certainly a lot more we can want to do, but we’re excited about the opportunities to improve these results even further next year.”