Work to develop a positive culture at the trust which runs Hinchingbrooke Hospital has ‘started to pay off’, according to the latest NHS National Staff Survey results.

More than 2,100 staff members who work at Peterborough City, Hinchingbrooke and Stamford Hospitals, plus staff working in outpatients services at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Ely and Doddington Hospital, took part in the survey in November 2018 to register their views about working in the North West Anglia Foundation Trust and the NHS as a whole.

The results showed improvements in key areas for the trust. Almost three per cent more staff (64.5 per cent) said they looked forward to going to work than they did in the 2017 survey. The trust also fared better than the national average score by seven per cent in the question.

There was also a five per cent increase in staff (72.5 per cent) who said they were given frequent opportunities to show initiative in their role compared with the previous year’s score.

An increase of five per cent of staff said they were satisfied with the recognition they get for good work (56.2 per cent), compared with the figures for the previous year.

However, only about a third of staff (32.7 per cent) believed there were enough staff in the organisation to allow them to do their jobs properly, while the percentage of staff who felt they were able to do their jobs to the standard they were pleased with fell from 82.4 per cent in 2017 to 80.2 per cent in 2018.

Louise Tibbert, director of workforce and organisational development for the trust, said: “Following the challenges of the merger of Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals with Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust in April 2017, we are starting to see the development of a more positive culture across our hospitals.

“These results help us recognise how far we have come in a short space of time, which is thanks to the tremendous efforts of our staff to bring services and departments together to improve care for our patients across the region.

“It is most pleasing to see positive results in particular themes, such as the quality of staff appraisals, providing a safe environment for staff and improving staff engagement.

“The welfare of our staff is of the utmost importance and we welcome these results.

In the areas where we have not scored as highly as we would have liked, we will actively address these issues working in collaboration with our staff members.”