NHS Staff Survey 2023 shows improvements in staff experience at Yorkshire Ambulance Service

With the release of the latest NHS Staff Survey results, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) has seen notable improvements in its results for 2023.

The 2023 survey results were published by NHS England on 7 March, and YAS saw improved scores across each of the nine themes in the survey, compared to last year, receiving valuable insight into the experiences of staff.

This year, 3,128 people participated in the survey. This was a 51% response rate, compared to 34% last year.

Some of the key improvements include:

• 85% of staff felt that their role makes a difference to service users – an increase of 2.9% since 2022, and 3% higher than the ambulance sector average
• 7% of staff said the people they work with show appreciation to one another – a 2.1% increase since last year
• 8% of staff said their manager encourages them at work – a 3.7% increase, and 4% higher than the sector average
• 65% of staff said they are enthusiastic about their job – a 5.2% increase since 2022

Peter Reading, Chief Executive, said: “This year, more than half of all colleagues at YAS completed the NHS Staff Survey – I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to share their views. The views and feedback of our colleagues is incredibly important. The voices of our workforce are crucial in helping us make changes to improve workplace culture, employee morale, patient experience and overall satisfaction at YAS.

“The survey has highlighted concerning issues in relation to sexual misconduct across the ambulance sector and we have already recognised the seriousness of this issue in YAS, with the publication and implementation of our Sexual Safety Charter in October 2023, one of the first NHS trusts in the country to take such action in this area.  We are fully committed to changing inappropriate workplace behaviour and improving sexual safety and reducing misogyny in the workplace and don’t underestimate the challenges we face.

“We know that there is still lots more to do, but with the continued input of our staff into initiatives like the NHS Staff Survey, we can work together to make YAS a great place to work, where we provide our patients with the high-quality care they need and deserve. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be looking at what this means, both Trust-wide and locally, so we can develop and implement plans to act on the feedback we received.”

The YAS results in full can be found via the link to the NHS Staff Survey benchmarking report.