Key facts
- NHS trusts in England will be rated on their handling of racism, violence, and sexual misconduct towards staff.
- The new performance standards will apply to acute, ambulance, and mental health trusts starting in July.
- These measures will directly impact overall trust performance ratings, alongside patient care metrics.
- Hundreds of thousands of NHS staff have reported experiencing abuse, harassment, or racism.
- The Royal College of Nursing emphasized the need for enforcement mechanisms to ensure real change.
The National Health Service (NHS) in England is set to implement a new system for rating healthcare trusts based on their effectiveness in addressing violence, racism, and sexual misconduct experienced by staff. Starting in July, all acute, ambulance, and mental health trusts will be evaluated and ranked in public league tables across six key areas of staff wellbeing.
These new performance standards are a commitment within a 10-year health plan and aim to hold employers formally accountable for the treatment of their employees. The measures will assess success in combating racism, preventing violence, ensuring sexual safety, and supporting flexible working, line management, and overall health and wellbeing. Trusts will receive scores from one to four for each category, which will contribute to their overall performance rating, now directly linked to workforce wellbeing alongside traditional patient care metrics like waiting lists and A&E performance.
Minister for secondary care, Karin Smyth, highlighted the unacceptable levels of abuse reported by staff and stated that the new standards will ensure that how trusts treat their employees is measured and published. This initiative comes in response to concerning figures from the latest NHS staff survey, which indicated that hundreds of thousands of staff have faced attacks, harassment, bullying, or racism. Furthermore, nearly 10% of NHS workers, including a third of ambulance staff and over 10% of nurses and midwives, reported experiencing unwanted sexual behaviour in the past year.
Experts have generally welcomed the introduction of these performance measures, though some question the pace at which staff will experience tangible improvements in their daily working lives. Suzie Bailey from the King's Fund emphasized that the true test lies in whether these standards translate into a safer, more valued, and supported environment for staff, which is crucial for delivering high-quality care. Nicola Ranger of the Royal College of Nursing stressed that while zero-tolerance policies exist on paper, robust enforcement mechanisms are essential for those trusts that fail to meet the new standards, warning that continued high levels of abuse could lead to further staff departures. Tim Mitchell, outgoing president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, suggested the need for a national, independent, and anonymous reporting system to allow staff to come forward without fear of reprisal.