Nearly a third of King's Mill staff have seen near misses at work

Almost a third of NHS staff have witnessed potentially harmful errors, an internal poll has revealed.
King's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALSKing's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALS
King's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALS

About a third of Sherwood Forest NHS staff have witnessed potentially harmful errors, an internal poll has revealed

Some 32 per cent of staff at the hospital trust – which runs Sutton’s King’s Mill and Mansfield Community hospitals – witnessed potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents within the previous month, according to results of the Sherwood Forest Hospitals staff survey.

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The trust said the figure of 32 per cent in 2017, six per cent above the 2016 figure of 26 per cent was in line with the national average for acute trusts, which is 31 per cent.

King's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALSKing's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALS
King's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALS

A report on the survey to the trust board of directors said: “This is of concern and will be picked up in action plans arising from the survey.”

However, the survey also showed SFH is the fourth-best acute trust in the country for staff satisfaction.

Four out of five staff said they would be happy with the standard of care provided if a friend or relative needed treatment and they would recommend the trust as a place to work.

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The results also show the trust is one of the best in the country when it comes to staff saying they believe their role makes a difference to patients.

King's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALSKing's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALS
King's Mill Hospital. picture supplied by SHERWOOD FOREST HOSPITALS

Julie Bacon, trust human resources director, said: “We are incredibly pleased and proud of our most recent staff survey results, in particular the fact our overall staff engagement score is one of the best in the country, especially as we know more engaged staff leads to better patient care.”

SFH was also the fourth-best acute in the country in relation to staff satisfaction with the quality of work and care that they provide.

The trust also saw improvement in some areas that scored low in the previous year, including staff feeling they are experiencing less physical violence.

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It comes after work throughout 2017 to reinforce its zero tolerance policy toward violence and further training around reporting procedures.

Ms Bacon said: “I appreciate there are areas we can improve and we are already using the results to investigate these areas further.

“One reason staff said they are witnessing more potentially harmful errors or near misses could be because they feel more confident in recognising errors and know how to report them.

“We are continuing to encourage staff to report all incidents via our electronic reporting system so they can be fully investigated.”