Hundreds of NHS staff would not recommend their jobs to a friend
Less than half of staff at a Black Country NHS trust would recommend working there to a friend, a new survey has revealed.
Just 48 per cent of nearly 1,000 workers asked at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust gave a positive response to the 'friends and family test'.
That was the worst result in the Black Country and Staffordshire and nearly 20 per cent below the national average.
It comes as 200 staff face the axe in the next year at the trust, which bosses admit has affected morale.
Walsall was also far below the average with 52 per cent, compared to 62 per cent in Wolverhampton and 58 per cent at the University Hospital North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs the County Hospital in Stafford.
At 85 per cent, only Dudley came in above the England average of 67 per cent.
Staff were surveyed in April this year. Six months earlier 68 per cent of staff said they would recommend working at the trust that runs Sandwell Hospital and City Hospital in Winson Green, Birmingham.
At Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust the figure has actually risen from 48 per cent to the current 52 per cent, while Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust's has dropped from 65 per cent to 62 per cent.
But The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust's score rocketed from 65 per cent to 85 per cent.
More than 4,000 staff were questioned across the five trusts. The survey is intended to monitor the mood of staff in the NHS so bosses can address any issues.
In Sandwell the job losses are the next phase of wider plans by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust to cut around 1,400 posts over five years.
Bosses are looking to scrap 205 'whole time equivalent' positions by March 2016 – but say around 260 workers are expected to be affected by the move.
A message to staff with the survey states: "It is hoped that the test will help to promote a big cultural shift in the NHS, where staff have further opportunity and confidence to speak up, and where the views of staff are increasingly heard and are acted upon."
Raffaela Goodby, director of organisation development at Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We are working hard to improve the experience of staff that work here and already have a number of schemes in place to support staff including health and wellbeing activities, and the largest staff engagement survey in the NHS. Our recent workforce changes have been unsettling for many colleagues affected however we are working hard to redeploy colleagues into other roles within our trust or with other trusts and to offer support, coaching and skills development."
Wolverhampton trust spokesman Paul Sheldon said: "We had a lower response rate during the quarter than normal but our usual response rate to this question is above the national average and we fully expect that to be the case when the next quarter survey results are released in mid July.
"The response rate to the question are you proud to work for the trust was 86 per cent."
