Staff forum plan to boost health trust

Hospital bosses are in talks with its employees to develop stronger working relationships by launching a staff forum.
Admin and clerical staff on strike outside Pontefract hospital in thier ongoing dispute about pay cuts.
p304c305Admin and clerical staff on strike outside Pontefract hospital in thier ongoing dispute about pay cuts.
p304c305
Admin and clerical staff on strike outside Pontefract hospital in thier ongoing dispute about pay cuts. p304c305

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Pontefract, Pinderfields and Dewsbury hospitals, wants to launch the forum by the autumn.

Bosses say it would build on the work of a patient and partner forum launched earlier this year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The staff forum will be made up of representatives of staff from across the trust, and is one of a number of planned measures to make it a better place to work.

Graham Briggs, director of human resources, said: “Our goal is to make the trust a place where people want to come and work, and where people who already work her want to stay.

“The trust has faced some difficult challenges in the last couple of years, to address its long history of poor performance and financial difficulty.

“The next few years will bring further challenges, including major service change, and we want to be able to work with union colleagues and the wider staff group to ensure that services are better for our patients, and that staff are supported through the changes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Staff are also best placed to comment on how services should be delivered because of the vast experience they have, day in and day out.”

The trust performed poorly in the national NHS staff survey last year in the areaon staff engagement.

A follow-up survey carried out by the trust found one of the reasons was that staff did not feel they had regular communication from their line manager and also felt they did not have enough influence over the working environment.

In addition to the forum, the trust is working with trade unions to develop new partnership arrangements to improve industrial relations.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Briggs added: “We’ve had a meeting with the full-time union officers and are working through the whole of the consultation. We have a very positive and useful understanding of each others’ perspectives.”