West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust surpasses national averages to be recommended by staff as a place to work and receive treatment

As the NHS turns 70 years old, staff at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust have once again rated their hospital and community services as one of the best places to receive treatment and best places to work.

In the most recent NHS Staff Friends and Family Test (FFT), 884 of the 940 (95%) WSFT staff surveyed said they would recommend the Trust as a place to receive treatment, the fifth highest percentage recorded in England, and 84% said they would recommend it as a place to work, which is the third highest percentage recorded in England – both well above the national averages of 80% and 63% respectively.

Chief executive of WSFT, Steve Dunn, said: “I’m really glad that our staff are happy to recommend the Trust they work in for care and as a place to work – our staff know the Trust inside and out, so it’s a really honest way for us to track how we’re doing.

“This test was conducted in January to March, which was a particularly busy time period for our staff, so to score so highly in this quarter is a real testament to the quality of our Trust and the people that work in it.

“Many of our staff are also our patients, and live in the community that we serve as a healthcare provider, so it’s really important to us that they’re happy with the care they are able to provide and the quality of care that they see across both our hospital and community services.”

Jan Bloomfield, director of workforce and communications at WSFT, said: “We’re proud to be recommended as an employer in the NHS by our own staff. In what is a particularly pressured time in the NHS’ history, I’m glad that our staff feel supported and happy, so much so that they would recommend it as a place to work to their friends and family.”

The Staff Friends and Family Test is a national initiative introduced by NHS England to help improve patient experience, and is carried out in all NHS trusts providing acute, community, ambulance and mental health services in England, giving staff the opportunity to feed back their views on their organisation.

If you would like more information about working at WSFT, visit the Trust’s website: www.wsh.nhs.uk

The test data can be found on the NHS England website.