Published on: 13 March 2025
More staff than ever responded to the 2024 NHS national staff survey at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, reporting improvements across a range of key measures across the hospital.
Building on the recent award of ‘Good’ for hospital services by the Care Quality Commission, NHS staff survey results released today report improved scores across all areas and consistently higher than average scores compared to other hospital trusts across England.
Despite the pressure faced by the Trust, and the demands placed on its services over a very challenging year – more than two thirds of staff would recommend George Eliot Hospital as a place to work: recording 5.2% higher than the national average. A similar proportion of staff (66.7%) responded positively to the question “If a friend or relative needed treatment I would be happy with the standard of care provided by this organisation.”
Hospital teams reported improvements in other key workplace measures in last year’s survey with more than six in ten colleagues achieving a good balance between their work life and my home life – a year-on-year improvement and above the national average score. Similarly, 68% of staff feel able to access the right learning and development opportunities when they need to.
Most importantly, 77% of staff agree that the Care of patients / service users is the organisation's top priority.
George Eliot Hospital works closely with partner organisations, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust, Worcester Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, and Wye Valley NHS Trust as part of the Foundation Group. Highlighted as best practice within national NHS England guidance, the Foundation Group has a combined workforce of more than 20,000 people and the model is an improvement collaborative, sharing best practice at pace, increasing resilience, driving productivity, and responding to shared challenges. This open learning culture across organisations, where improvement is everyone’s business, staff are encouraged to share ideas and drive positive change which is supported by quarterly Foundation Group improvement events and a dedicated yearly Improvement Week. Demonstrating the strength of this model, in this year’s survey all four trusts saw impressive ‘We are always learning’ theme scores with overall improved results comparing favourably to the national average.
Dr Catherine Free, George Eliot Hospital Managing Director said: “These results confirm what I see on a regular basis on our wards – that our top priority is patient care. I am also pleased that more of our staff took part in the survey and that they reported improvements across all our key questions. The results show that our dedicated staff can make their voices heard and effect positive change in our organisation.
“We have carefully reviewed the feedback colleagues have given us and continue to make improvements to ensure staff working for us have the best experience which allows them to deliver excellent patient care. I am encouraged that these results show that George Eliot Hospital listens to its staff, acts on their feedback and is a great place to work.”
Glen Burley, Chief Executive of George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and the Foundation Group, said: "The NHS Staff Survey is a hugely important indicator for NHS organisations. It enables our Trust to understand what we are doing well while helping us identify further opportunities for improvement. I am incredibly proud of this year's NHS Staff Survey results for all organisations within the Foundation Group. The improved results across all members demonstrate our ability to share learning and best practices, which ultimately improves staff engagement and patient care.”