NHS staff report continuing improvements in their experiences of work, according to world’s largest workforce survey

A growing proportion of NHS workers agree that there are enough staff at their organisation to do their job properly, according to new results from the NHS Staff Survey. 

Results from the 2024 NHS Staff Survey, which was coordinated by the independent charity Picker on behalf of NHS England, included responses from almost 775,000 NHS staff working across more than 200 organisations. The survey included all directly employed staff in secondary and tertiary care organisations, ranging from consultants to care assistants and from porters to paramedics. Questions in the survey cover all aspects of work experiences, with a particular focus on NHS England’s People Promise.

Staffing levels

One of the biggest changes compared to the 2023 survey was in the proportion of staff agreeing that there are enough staff at their organisation to do their job properly. This rose from 32.3% in 2023 to 34.0% in 2024, a 1.7% point improvement. Improvements in 2024 can be seen across all NHS trust types, with a particularly notable increase of 6.5% points in Ambulance Trusts (from 29.3% in 2023 to 35.8% in 2024) – a sector often under intense pressure.

Perhaps related to this improvement, there are some signs of continuing, gradual improvements in the pressures facing NHS staff. All measures of staff burnout are now at their lowest levels since 2021 – showing that improvements identified in 2023 have been sustained.

Harassment, bullying, and abuse

Similarly, there has been a continued gradual improvement in the proportion of staff reporting that they suffered harassment, bullying, or abuse:

• from patients and the public (25.1%; down from a recent peak of 27.8% in 2021);
• from colleagues (17.6%; down from 18.7% in 2021); and
• from managers (9.5%; down almost a fifth from 11.6% in 2021).

Conversely, the proportion of staff experiencing discrimination from patients and the public has continued to grow – up to 9.25% in 2024 compared to 8.6% in 2023 and 7.3% in 2020).

Rates of staff experiencing physical violence have remained stable compared to 2023 (14.4% from patients and the public; 0.8% from managers; and 1.9% from colleagues). Encouragingly, though, the percentage of staff saying that such incidents were reported by themselves or a colleague has substantially increased:

• For harassment, bullying and abuse: 54.0% (up from 51.8% in 2023).
• For physical violence: 74.7% (up from 73.6% in 2023).

Commenting on the findings, Chris Graham, Group CEO at Picker, said:

“The NHS Staff Survey gives unparalleled insight into the experiences of people working across the health service in England. This year’s findings shows continuing improvement on a number of questions that relate to pressures on staff and on negative experiences, such as harassment and burnout. These are important issues for retaining a skilled, experienced NHS workforce: this is vital to the success of the ten year forward plan, and the improvements are very welcome news.

“Despite this, the survey shows further room for improvement in many key areas. Only three in five staff would recommend their organisation as a place to work, and less than three quarters agree that care of patients is their organisation’s top priority. Coupled with a worrying rise in the proportion of staff experiencing discrimination from patients and the public, this demonstrates a need for an ongoing focus on ensuring that all NHS workplaces are safe, inclusive, and have positive working cultures centred on delivering high quality, person centred care.”

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Notes to editors

• For media enquiries, please contact Marketing and Communications team at pressoffice@pickereurope.ac.uk, or phone: 01865 632 235.

• The NHS Staff Survey is coordinated by Picker on behalf of NHS England. Fieldwork for the survey was conducted between September and November 2024.

• Taking part in the survey is compulsory for all NHS trusts and voluntary for other NHS organisations such as Integrated Care Boards and Social Enterprises. This year, 263 organisations participated, including 210 NHS Trusts in England.

• As in 2023, all participating organisations undertook a census of all eligible employees. Overall, 774,828 people responded to the survey from 1.5 million who were invited: a response rate of 50%, up 2% points from 2023. The vast majority of respondents (94%) completed the survey online. The survey is understood to be the world’s largest published workforce survey.

• National results include data from 747,288 staff at 210 NHS trusts.

• All staff in full-time or part-time roles employed in participating organisations on 1st September 2024 were eligible for the survey. This includes staff on fixed-term contracts; on secondments; on sickness absence of up to 12 months; on parental leave; or suspended.

• Staff were not eligible for the survey if they were employed by sub-contracted or outside organisations or if they had been on long-term sick leave for more than a year. Staff providing only bank or locum services were able to participate in the survey but their responses are not included in the national results.

• Full results for the survey are available from www.nhsstaffsurveys.com.

Picker’s team of researchers and data scientists are available to support organisations in understanding, measuring, and using workforce and user experience. For queries about our services or to request a call, please contact info@pickereurope.ac.uk.