This report draws on the vast amount of information about the cultures, processes and performance of health service organisations in the National Health Service (NHS). Drawing on data from the annual NHS Staff Survey and other sources, the report shows how good management of NHS staff leads to higher quality of care, more satisfied patients and lower patient mortality. It also demonstrates how good staff management offers significant financial savings for the NHS, as its leaders respond to the challenge of sustainability in the face of increasing costs and demands.

The results, despite coming from a variety of methods, data sets and years, deliver a clear general message about the importance of staff experience for outcomes. In general terms, the more positive the experiences of staff within an NHS trust, the better the outcomes for that trust. This is shown across many different domains of staff experience. Engagement is shown to be particularly important: having significant associations with patient satisfaction, patient mortality, infection rates, Annual Health Check scores, as well as staff absenteeism and turnover. The more engaged staff members are, the better the outcomes for patients and the organisation generally.