Health and social care - everyone matters pulse survey: national report 2020

Sources of Worry

The Pulse Survey asked staff to describe, in their own words, what they are currently most worried about "Thinking about your experiences of work over the last 6 months, what are you currently most worried about?" In total 66,631 staff provided a response to this question (80% of those responding to the survey). 

The word-cloud below shows the 250 words most used by staff in response to this question (the larger the word, the more times it was mentioned), reflecting their worries at the time of completing the survey in September 2020. Details of the COVID-19 situation at that time are contained in Appendix 8.

Responses to the open question have been grouped into themes through a process of manual and machine coding (see Appendix 7 for further information). Staff worries have been divided into those that relate to the work environment and those that are more personal or broader life worries.

Work Related Worries

The chart following shows the number of mentions among staff answering the open question about their worries, for each of the themes identified. An individual may mention more than one of the themes and their response is therefore counted in all relevant themes. 

In overview, the work-related worries most mentioned by staff are around current and future patient/client care. Workload is a worry for many staff, though there are also concerns around future job security for others. It is notable that there are both staff who worry about being in the workplace and those who have concerns working from home. Worries around management and communications are evident, as are career concerns. These themes are explored in more detail in the following chapters of this report.

COVID-19 and Personal Worries

The most prevalent worries commented on by staff centre around COVID-19 with many staff concerned about the second wave, which was, at the time of the Pulse Survey fieldwork, an emerging reality. Staff are also very concerned about catching COVID-19 and passing on to patients, colleagues or friends and family. This links to a general fear that many have of what the future will bring and when/if normality will return. Staff also express worry for both their own and their family's health and well-being.