Most staff wouldn’t send relatives to Havering hospital trust

Less than half of staff who work at local hospitals would send a relative or friend for treatment there, a damning survey shows.

Around 380 doctors, nurses and admin staff from Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust - which runs Queen’s in Rom Valley Way, Romford, and King George, Goodmayes - took part in a poll by health watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC).

But just 46 per cent said they would be “happy with the standard of care” provided by the trust.

While only 47 per cent believed the care of patients was the trust’s top priority.

A quarter of those surveyed said they would look for employment elsewhere in the coming year.

Trust chief executive Averil Dongworth said the results were “disappointing” but there had been “significant improvements” on the previous year’s survey.

In general the trust scored below the national average in most areas including stress, hygiene, line management, and errors and near-misses.

However, training and appraisals were in the top 20 per cent bracket and there was a marked improvement in ‘staff experiences’ since 2009 - although it remained worse than average.

Ms Dongworth added: “We are working extremely hard to improve standards not just for patients but for our staff as well.

“This has been a time of great change for the trust and we cannot expect results to leap dramatically in such a short space of time. A gradual and sustainable improvement gives us a sound foundation to build upon.”

Almost 165,000 employees at the country’s 388 trusts took part in the survey.

Cynthia Bower, CQC’s chief executive said: “The survey results will help trusts to pinpoint what else they can do to support and develop staff to ensure they can provide the best care for patients.”