National Trauma Transformation Programme: workforce survey 2024

1. Introduction and Context

As a society, we are becoming increasingly aware that living through traumatic events is more common than previously realised. These include a wide range of traumatic, abusive, or neglectful events or series of events that are experienced as being emotionally or physically harmful or life threatening. The prevalence of traumatic experiences means that trauma will inevitably impact many within our workforce.

There is growing evidence that trauma-informed and responsive organisations, systems and practice, where the impact of trauma is understood by staff, and systems and ways of working are adapted accordingly, can reduce barriers for people to access support, whether through personal relationships, our wider communities and help from specialist and/ or universal services. This can ultimately help those of us affected by trauma to build our resilience, recover, and experience improved outcomes.

Scotland has paved the way in creating a vision of a trauma-informed workforce and services capable of recognising where people are affected by trauma and adversity, able to respond in ways that prevent further harm and support recovery and can address inequalities and improve life chances. This is part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to preventing and mitigating psychological trauma and adversity, including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); supporting all affected children, young people and adults.

In 2017, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) developed the Transforming Psychological Trauma: Knowledge and Skills Framework for the Scottish Workforce,^[2] accompanied by the Scottish Psychological Trauma Training Plan.^[3] The aim was to create a shared language and understanding around what a trauma-informed and responsive workforce looks like, and to clarify what we need to know and do in order to reduce the likelihood of re-traumatisation and decreases barriers to accessing universal and specialist services.

The Framework and Plan are part of a broader range of evidence-based training and implementation tools and support developed by the National Trauma Transformation Programme (NTTP), led by NES, in partnership with the Scottish Government, COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities), Resilience Learning Partnership, and the Improvement Service. More information about psychological trauma, its prevalence and impact and the wider work of the NTTP is available through the NTTP website.

In 2016, NES issued a survey across organisations and sectors to assess levels of awareness and understanding of psychological trauma, and the extent to which trauma-informed practice, systems and services were embedded in organisations. This was followed in 2021 by a survey with the workforce in Scotland, which was carried out by the Improvement Service, and explored similar themes and topics. That survey explored attitudes and confidence on topics related to trauma and trauma-informed practice, as well as engagement with NTTP resources. This report reflects results received from a further survey carried out in 2024, which builds on the previous survey to revisit these topics and explore change over time.

This report presents the high-level findings from the most recent workforce survey, comparisons with the survey completed in 2021, and breakdowns by service area, sector, and job role where relevant.