Hospital staff bid to drive up morale amidst pay fears

STEPS need to be taken to improve low staff morale in Gloucestershire hospitals amidst fears over pay cuts.

That was the message from employees at Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal hospitals after the results of a staff survey were published.

It comes amid fears some staff may be subject to reduced leave, increased hours and cuts in overtime and sick pay.

A panel of staff representing different hospital departments fed back to the main board of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, saying morale was often low.

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A spokeswoman for the panel said: "Some staff feel they don't have many career development opportunities.

"We have looked at building team spirit. Morale is quite low due to financial pressure.

"It would be quite good to be reminded about how we are still delivering a good service while making savings.

"It would remind us all why we are here at the end of the day – why we work for the NHS."

Other suggested improvements included improving staff support and holding more regular appraisals to give them a sense of career development, which was currently lacking.

Mark Dwight, a biomedical scientist from haematology, who was also on the feedback panel, said work needed to be done to reward the efforts of hard-working staff.

He said: "In terms of staff support there seems to be a lot of focus on people who are unwell so good attendance should also be noted.

"We don't want to be at the stage where we are handing out certificates as if they are in primary school but we do want to make people feel as if they are being appreciated." He added that more socialising among co-workers could help to break down barriers.

"A lot of staff have talked about building team spirit by going out together after work and simple things like bringing in cake," he added.

The meeting, at the trust headquarters in College Lawn, Cheltenham, comes as the hospitals trust needs to make savings of £70million over the next three years.

Trade union members had been planning to lobby board members outside the meeting over its decision to join the south west pay consortium– a move they fear could lead to 15 per cent pay cuts on the back of two years of pay freezes and rising workloads.

However, Unison members failed to materialise, postponing the protest until next month.

Board members thanked the panel for presenting the findings of the staff survey.

Trust chairwoman Clair Chilvers said: "It's important to keep this work going.

"We have seen how successful this is and we all appreciate your efforts."