Andrew Morgan – Chief Executive of Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust

The whole ethos of our organisation is about delivering great care close to home and we could not do that without outstanding people supporting us.

That is why insight into how our staff feel about working with us, like the recently published national NHS Staff Survey results, is so important.

There are many ways that we ask our staff for feedback, but the national NHS Staff Survey is run independently, is anonymous and allows us to benchmark our progress against similar community NHS trusts.

This year our overall results reflect improvements across the board, which I am really pleased to see. More of our staff have said they feel valued, they make a difference to patient care and say care is Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust’s top priority. Furthermore, 80 per cent say they would be happy with the standard of care if a friend or relative needed treatment.

I am also pleased to see our staff engagement scores continue to increase, which was also an area of outstanding practice recognised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as it rated the trust overall as ‘Outstanding’ in 2018.

We are already working on those areas where improvement is required, including regarding bullying and harassment, which was the only themed area where the trust scored slightly below the national average. We do not tolerate this kind of behaviour and will be doing all we can to take action against it.

Before I leave you for another month, please can I give a final reminder about being prepared for Easter by arranging any repeat prescriptions in good time or to make a note to pack your medicines if you are going away.

Also remember that NHS111 is available 24 hours a day if you have any concerns or are not sure of which services to access.

Our local pharmacies are also able to provide a wealth of expertise and advice to help make this long weekend a healthy one.