Sussex hospital staff tell of 'harmful mistakes' (From The Argus)

Sussex hospital staff tell of 'harmful mistakes'

3:30pm Tuesday 5th March 2013 in News By Siobhan Ryan, Health Reporter

Almost half of staff questioned at a Sussex hospital trust say they have seen potentially harmful mistakes and near misses in the past month.

A third also said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from other staff at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The information emerged as part of a national NHS staff survey held to get people's views on how they felt about where they work.

Questions ranged from asking people’s views about whether they would recommend their hospital as a place to be treated and whether they felt valued.

Brighton and Sussex scored well when it came to the percentage of staff agreeing their role made a difference to patients, job satisfaction and being happy with the patient care they were able to deliver.

However 43% of staff questioned reported witnessing errors and near misses, placing the hospital in the bottom 20% of similar sized trusts.

Brighton and Sussex interim chief executive Chris Adcock said: “We are committed to ensuring our staff are given the opportunity, encouragement and support to do their job to the best of their ability and to ensuring they feel their contribution is recognised and valued.

“The results from latest NHS staff survey shows there are areas where we are doing particularly well.

“It is pleasing to see that staff job satisfaction across our hospitals is better than the national average, and to be in the top 20% of trusts across the country for both the number of staff who felt their role makes a difference to patients, and the number who felt satisfied with the quality of patient care they are able to deliver.

“The survey has also shown some areas where our staff feel we need to do better and, as previously, we will focus on these over the coming year.”

The trust did not comment more specifically on cases related to harmful mistakes and near misses or bullying and abuse.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust emerged as one of the better performing trusts with lower than average numbers of staff experiencing harassment, witnessing incidents or experiencing physical violence.

However it did less well when it came to job satisfaction, support from managers and the percentage of staff receiving training.

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust scored badly when it came to the number of workers experiencing physical violence from patients, relatives or the public, working extra hours and motivation.

However it scored well when it came to recommending the trust as a place to work or receive treatment.