MENTAL health workers on the Isle of Wight are among the most motivated and least stressed in the country, despite the fact they suffer more abuse, harassment and physical violence than their national counterparts.
Around half the Island's 3,000 hospital, ambulance and mental health workers responded to a national survey of NHS staff, carried out last September and October, revealing how far they were satisfied with their jobs.
The results, released this week, revealed 92 per cent of St Mary's Hospital staff and 80 per cent of mental health staff were satisfied with the quality of care they were able to deliver in 2012, better than the national average of 89 per cent and 79 per cent.
But only 75 per cent of ambulance staff felt the same way, a significant drop from 82 per cent in 2011 and worse than the national average of 76 per cent.
The survey also found:
• Asked if they would recommend the Isle of Wight NHS Trust as a place to work or receive treatment on a scale of one to five, with one being unlikely to recommend and five being likely to recommend, hospital staff gave an average rating of 3.49, ambulance staff 3.12 and mental health staff 3.43. That was compared with national averages of 3.57, 3.12 and 3.54 respectively.
• Hospital and mental health staff were among the top 20 per cent nationally who felt their role made a difference to patients, but only 79 per cent of ambulance staff agreed — a significant drop on last year's 93 per cent and worse than the national average of 87 per cent.
• Mental health workers were among the top 20 per cent nationally in terms of staff motivation and a lack of stress, but among the worst 20 per cent in terms of experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients or the public.
• Forty-three per cent had experienced abuse, compared with an average of 30 per cent nationally, and 25 per cent had experienced physical violence, compared with 20 per cent nationally.
• Ambulance staff did not suffer the same problem and were less stressed than their national counterparts, but hospital staff were among the most stressed in the country.
• Mental health staff were among the best in the country at reporting potentially harmful errors or near misses, but hospital staff were in the bottom 20 per cent and ambulance staff were worse than the national average of 84 per cent — only 74 per cent reported such incidents.
The trust's executive director of nursing and workforce, Alan Sheward said many improvements had been made since last year and the organisation was moving in the right direction.
"We recognise the contribution staff bring to patients and relatives at very difficult times in their lives. Care and treatment is as much about the way it is delivered which is why we are concentrating on staff delivering the highest standards of compassionate care
"We need to ensure all our staff are engaged with our vision of quality care for everyone, every time and feel that they can contribute to service development," he said.
The results of the survey can be viewed in full at www.iow.nhs.uk/surveys
Reporter: emilyp@iwcpmail.co.uk