Patients 'not NHS staff's top priority'

[Morris Onions]

Fewer than half the staff in NHS trusts across England think caring for patients is the top priority at their place of work, the government's health watchdog has disclosed.

The Healthcare Commission surveyed more than 150,000 nurses, doctors and ancillary staff to check whether ministers were succeeding in a campaign to create a more patient-centred health service.

It asked staff if the care of patients was the top priority of their NHS trust. Only 46% said yes, but there was a huge variation in the answers at local level. At the Great Western ambulance service in Chippenham, Wiltshire, 65% of staff said patients were not the organisation's top priority, compared with 3% at Papworth foundation hospital near Cambridge. Employees were not asked to identify what priority could be more important.

Unison, the public service union, said trusts were placing too much emphasis on marketing and financial targets, with damaging consequences for the way hospitals were run.

The commission said: "Those trusts that scored badly on making patients the top priority must address this issue."

The survey also found wide variations between hospitals on measures to improve hygiene to combat MRSA and Clostridium difficile. Across the NHS 82% of staff said their trust was doing enough to promote the importance of handwashing, compared with 70% in 2005. But only 61% said hand-washing equipment was always available when needed.

Anna Walker, the commission's chief executive, said hospitals should aim to give all frontline staff immediate access to soap, hot water and alcohol rubs. At Homerton hospital in east London only 39% of staff had these basic essentials constantly available.

The survey was the biggest annual test of staff attitudes and experiences in Europe, with responses from 155,922 employees from all 391 NHS trusts. It found job satisfaction in the NHS continued to be high. But 13% of staff said they had experienced physical violence at work. This rose to 29% in the ambulance service.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/09/nhs.health1