Health & Social Care Staff Experience Survey 2023

My Team / My Direct Line Manager

Results are aggregated for each question presented under the heading ‘My Team / My Direct Line Manager’.

All but one of the components in My Team/My Direct Line Manager have increased by one point since 2022. The score for ‘My line manager is sufficiently approachable’ has remained unchanged.

All of the components are at, or above, levels ever previously achieved in iMatter.

Staff are very positive about their line manager and their relationship with their manager. Not all staff feel involved in team decisions and some are not confident about how performance is managed.

Boards

Full Board data is included in the iMatter 2023 Data file^[11].

The range of scores across Boards is largest for ‘’I feel involved in decisions relating to my team’ at 20 points, with Scottish Ambulance Service scoring 67 and NHS Education for Scotland scoring 87. The smallest range (10 points) is for ‘My team works well together’, with Scottish Ambulance Service scoring 79 and NHS Education for Scotland scoring 89.

Several Team Stories demonstrate the effort made to improve team dynamics, through a variety of actions:

“With a return to a more ‘normal’ service post covid, the L&OD team are out and about working across a range of sites and the organisation. However, the team noted that they were sometimes missing the connections they had with colleagues and were less likely to see each other as often as before. Keen to stay in touch, and as part of the team action plan – a monthly lunchtime catch up meeting was agreed when the whole team are ‘on-site’.

The informal catch up gives the team a chance to share anything new face to face in an informal setting helping to stay connected and enhancing our relationships” Learning and Organisational Development Team, NHS Lanarkshire

A Digital Champion, within NHS Ayrshire & Arran, successfully introduced MS Teams (on phones) to staff who did not normally have access to computers. This had a positive impact on connectivity across the team.

Building a good environment within a new team can be a challenge. The newly established Quality Improvement Team in NHS Ayrshire & Arran took a series of actions to achieve positive working relationships across the team and beyond:

• “Regular 1:1s with team members.
• Team building day to identify the vision and mission of the new team to develop a sense of shared responsibility.
• Open and transparent working relationships to build psychological safety within the work place.
• Encouragement of distributed working to facilitate autonomy and ideal working environments for each team member.
• Regular weekly ‘catch-ups’ to ensure we can share worries/concerns and use each other’s experiences to enrich pieces of ongoing work.
• Dynamic and efficient use of a work planner. This is completed during the ‘catch up’ to ensure everyone is up to date and sharing progress with projects.
• Utilisation of QI tools to provide a road map for our journey. This was composed by the team at our team building day. This allowed both shared ownership and purpose within the team.” Quality Improvement Team, NHS Ayrshire & Arran

Overall there is typically a 1 point increase in most scores for the majority of Boards. The largest improvements are in NHS Western Isles where all scores within My Team have increased by 3 or 4 points. National Services Scotland has seen a 3 point improvement in ‘my direct line manager cares about my health and wellbeing’. The score for ‘I feel involved in decisions relating to my team’ has declined 3 points to 81 in Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

The Team Story from the Ground Department Bothy, reflects on the importance of a team space, particularly when the team spends most of their time outdoors:

“The rest and team space hadn’t been upgraded or decorated for over 20 years. It is the place where the team meet, where they start and end their day, take their well-earned breaks and have a comfort break. It is meant to provide a warm, safe area to change out wet clothes and get a hot drink on the coldest and dreariest days. It is where they store their clothes, wash up or have a shower.

With funding through endowments, and support and work from departments across the organisation it is now being upgraded. The space has been painted inside and out, new flooring has been put down and new furniture is on its way. The toilet and shower have been up-graded and it is transforming into a welcoming, warm and safe space for the team to rest and take a well-earned break. The team can also get access to a PC in the Bothy to check emails, get up to date with TURAS training, print work orders and other documents they need. It has notice boards with the information they need on health and safety etc.” Ground Department Bothy Refurbishment, NHS Grampian

Staff Groupings

NHSScotland staff scores overall are similar to those of Local Authority staff. The largest difference is in confidence that performance is managed well, with Local Authority staff scoring two points higher (81) than NHSScotland staff (79).

Details of scores for each of the individual Staff Groupings within NHSScotland and Local Authority are included within the iMatter 2023 Data file^[12]. The largest range of scores is for ‘I feel involved in decisions relating to my team’ where a difference of 22 points is seen between Ambulance Services (67) and Local Authority Senior Managers (89). The smallest range (8 points) is in ‘My team works well together’ with Ambulance Services at 78 and several Staff Groupings at 86 (Business Services, Criminal Justice and Senior Managers in both NHSScotland and Local Authority).