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Publication - Independent report

Health and social care - staff experience: report 2021

Published
7 February 2022
Directorate
Health Workforce Directorate
Part of
Health and social care
ISBN
9781802016222

Independent report by Webropol providing detailed information and analysis of staff experience in health and social care across Scotland during 2021.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Appendix 7: Response Volumes by Method

Online Response Rate

The 2021 online response rate of 60% is 6 pps below the 2019 level.

The volume of online surveys issued in 2021 was 12 pps higher than in 2019. The lower response rate led to the total volume of online responses in 2021 being almost identical to the 2019 volume.

Online Surveys Volume issued Usable Response Volume Response Rate
2017 141,990 96,631 68%
2018 149,557 95,693 64%
2019 153,989 102,099 66%
2021 171,801 102,514 60%

Paper Response Rate

The paper response rate has always been lower than the online response rate. However, there is a considerable decline in 2021 with the paper response rate dropping to 20%, having been at 37% in 2019. This decline is far in excess of the drop seen in the online response rate.

Paper Surveys Volume issued Usable Response Volume Response Rate
2017 30,597 11,599 38%
2018 28,062 8,561 31%
2019 25,464 9,413 37%
2021 18,965 3,842 20%

In total 17 Boards made use of paper questionnaires, two of which are not shown in the summary below to protect anonymity of the staff. Of note are the large declines in response rates in Boards that have large paper volumes:

  • NHS Lothian -21pps
  • NHS Grampian -20pps
  • NHS Lanarkshire -19pps
Paper Surveys Volume Issued 2021 Response Rate 2019 Response Rate 2021 Response Rate Movement 2021-2019 (pp)
Health & Social Care 18,965 37% 20% -17
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 1,442 39% 27% -12
NHS Borders 745 27% 18% -9
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 97 37% 0% -37
NHS Fife 1,118 28% 17% -11
NHS Forth Valley 359 37% 17% -20
NHS Golden Jubilee 188 65% 36% -29
NHS Grampian 1,581 44% 24% -20
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 5,903 32% 16% -16
NHS Highland 1,034 31% 14% -17
NHS Lanarkshire 1,737 42% 23% -19
NHS Lothian 3,541 46% 25% -21
NHS Shetland 47 25% 28% +3
NHS Tayside 976 25% 16% -9
NHS Western Isles 141 16% 18% +2
Scottish Ambulance Service 51 22% 16% -6

SMS Response Rate

SMS survey invitations were initially successfully piloted in the West Dunbartonshire HSCP (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde) during iMatter 2019. In the 2020 Everyone Matters Pulse Survey, the SMS method was adopted by 11 Boards with a total of 3,847 SMS invites sent and 905 SMS surveys completed.

In iMatter 2021, 3,676 SMS invites were sent and 1,810 responses received, a response rate of 49%. Of those completing the survey there are 515 staff who previously are/have been known to have received the email survey link and 713 the paper survey.

The slight reduction in the volume of staff invited to the SMS survey is driven primarily by a considerable drop in NHS Lanarkshire, which is countered to some extent by increases in other Boards and through the adoption of SMS by Scottish Ambulance Service.

Board EMPS 2020 iMatter 2021 Difference
Health & Social Care 3847 3676 -171
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 12 161 +149
NHS Borders 0 57 +57
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 40 301 +261
NHS Fife 0 75 +75
NHS Forth Valley 278 280 +2
NHS Golden Jubilee 0 24 +24
NHS Grampian 31 97 +66
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 1,081 1,204 +123
NHS Highland 52 200 +148
NHS Lanarkshire 2,262 165 -2,097
NHS Lothian 60 310 +250
NHS Tayside 28 193 +165
Scottish Ambulance Service 0 600 +600

Response rates for Boards adopting SMS follow. The response rate achieved via SMS is good, particularly considering the longer questionnaire in 2021. This suggests that this continues to be a method to consider for the future, potentially as a replacement option to address the challenges around the paper questionnaires.

2021 Staff Experience Survey SMS Response rates by board
Percentage response rate for those staff who chose SMS questionnaires. These are listed from high to low. NHS Ayrshire and Arran response rate was 73%; NHS Golden Jubilee rate was 67%; NHS Tayside rate was 59%; NHS Lothian rate was 59%; NHS Lanarkshire rate was 59%; NHS National Services Scotland rate was 56%; Scottish Ambulance Services rate was 53%; NHS Highland rate was 53%; NHS Fife rate was 53%; Overall Health and Social Care rate was 49%; NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was 45%; NHS Dumfries & Galloway rate was 42%; NHS Grampian rate was 40%; NHS Borders response rate was 39%; NHS Forth Valley response rate was 29%

Unusable Responses

A prerequisite of iMatter is that the core iMatter questions are answered (staff grouping, change experienced and demographic questions are optional). If there are any errors on the questionnaire then it is not processed.

On the online survey, 1,045 staff started the survey but did not submit their response, less than 1% of the volume of staff invited online. This is a considerable improvement from 2019 when 6,630 staff started the survey but did not submit it. This suggests that the design enhancements brought in, to make the 'Submit' button more prominent have been successful.

On the paper questionnaire it is not possible to monitor responses as they are being completed, and so it is only when returned questionnaires are processed that incomplete or incorrectly completed responses are identified.

Of the 18,965 paper surveys issued, 3,842 (20%) were input and a total of 910 (5%) were rejected for the reasons shown here.

Of the partial responses, 79% were only missing a response to one question.

Health and Social Care 2021 Volume % of paper surveys sent
Paper Surveys Sent 18,965
Responses Processed 3,842 20%
Responses Rejected 910 5%
Reasons for Rejection
Partial Response 669 4%
Completion Errors 149 1%
Duplicate 4 <1%
Past Deadline 88 <1%
  Sent surveys Responses Response rates
Email Paper SMS Total Email Paper SMS Total Email Paper SMS Total
Health & Social Care 171,801 18,965 3,676 194,442 10,2514 3,842 1,810 108,166 60% 20% 49% 56%
NHS Education for Scotland 958 0 0 958 877 0 0 877 92% 0% 0% 92%
Healthcare Improvement Scotland 533 0 0 533 487 0 0 487 91% 0% 0% 91%
Public Health Scotland 1,163 0 0 1,163 999 0 0 999 86% 0% 0% 86%
NHS National Services Scotland 4,141 0 N/A 4,150 3,055 0 N/A 3,060 74% 0% N/A 74%
The State Hospital 638 4 0 642 441 N/A 0 443 69% 50% 0% 69%
NHS Golden Jubilee 1,801 188 N/A 2,013 1,270 68 16 1,354 71% 36% 67% 67%
NHS Orkney 877 N/A 0 878 571 0 0 571 65% N/A 0% 65%
NHS Shetland 1,508 47 0 1,555 925 N/A 0 938 61% 28% 0% 60%
NHS Tayside 14,209 976 193 15,378 8,991 160 114 9,265 63% 16% 59% 60%
Scottish Ambulance Service 5,426 51 600 6,077 3,326 N/A 320 3,654 61% 16% 53% 60%
NHS Fife 10,014 1,118 75 11,207 6,330 193 40 6,563 63% 17% 53% 59%
NHS Western Isles 850 141 0 991 554 25 0 579 65% 18% 0% 58%
NHS 24 1,883 0 0 1,883 1,068 0 0 1,068 57% 0% 0% 57%
NHS Grampian 17,087 1,581 97 18,765 10,189 380 39 10,608 60% 24% 40% 57%
NHS Lanarkshire 12,223 1,737 165 14,125 7,458 408 98 7,964 61% 23% 59% 56%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 4,204 97 301 4,602 2,406 0 126 2,532 57% 0% 42% 55%
NHS Forth Valley 6,767 359 280 7,406 3,863 61 80 4,004 57% 17% 29% 54%
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 13,052 1,442 161 14,655 7,334 385 118 7,837 56% 27% 73% 53%
NHS Lothian 24,406 3,541 310 28,257 13,943 902 184 15,029 57% 25% 59% 53%
NHS Borders 3,394 745 57 4,196 2,018 136 22 2,176 59% 18% 39% 52%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 37,812 5,903 1,204 44,919 21,533 959 543 23,035 57% 16% 45% 51%
NHS Highland 8,855 1,034 200 10,089 4,876 142 105 5,123 55% 14% 53% 51%

Contact

Email: Victoria.freeland@gov.scot

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