The annual NHS staff survey has found fear, anger and frustration at the trust that provides mental health services in Brighton and Hove.
More than 3,000 staff at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – or almost 60 per cent of all employees – took part in the survey late last year.
A report to the most recent trust board meeting said: “National staff survey results reflect low organisational morale.”
And the trust’s chief executive Jane Padmore emailed staff, saying: “This year’s Sussex Partnership response rate was high. That is important. It shows people care enough to give feedback and want their voice to be heard.
“There are things for us to be proud of in our survey results and aspects which make for difficult reading.
“I have read all the feedback. It demonstrates personal commitment and appreciation for colleagues. It also includes stark feedback about people’s frustrations, concerns and, in some cases, anger.
“I would always rather hear hard truths than polite silence so I do appreciate the honesty. Our responsibility now is to listen properly, resist defensiveness and take action together.”
A total of 3,152 staff responded to the survey, or 58 per cent, up on last year – but with more negative feedback for trust bosses.
Some questions asked staff to score their trust out of 10, with higher scores being better, and in response to several questions the trust was below average or even close to the worst for a mental health trust.
Asked if “we are safe and healthy”, the trust scored 6.01 out of 10 – significantly worse than last year. The worst result was 5.89 and the average 6.34.
Asked to rate their morale, trust staff scored it at 5.71 out of 10. The worst result was 5.48 while the average was 6.12.
The survey found that just 49.6 per cent – fewer than half – of staff looked forward to going to work, a drop from 54 per cent last year and only marginally above the 48.2 per cent “worst result” across the sector.
More than a third – 37 per cent – said that they were thinking about leaving the trust – the worst result in the country.
The scores given by staff for “motivation”, “compassionate culture” and “we are a team” were close to being the worst in the country and the “burnout” score of 4.93 out of 10 was just above the worst score of 4.83. The average was 5.23.
Just 48 per cent of staff would recommend the trust as a place to work – almost as bad as the worst result and worse than last year.
A total of 74 per cent said that they faced unrealistic time pressure – almost the worst score in the country.
And only 40.86 per cent said that they were able to meet all the conflicting demands on their time at work – the worst result in the country
The chief executive said in her email to all staff: “There is no getting away from the challenges that exist right now across the NHS. There are high levels of complex need in our local communities.
“Too often, patients are waiting longer than they should do to access services. There is intense scrutiny to deliver on our responsibility to live within our means financially as stewards of public money.
“All of these issues place pressure on staff. We have made lots of changes to services, structures and roles over the last three years to respond to them. We needed to do this. But I know it has been difficult at times.”
She added: “We also need to create a workplace environment where people feel able to speak up and to know they will be heard without being silenced or sanctioned.”
The board is due to meet again on Thursday (9 April), with draft minutes of the meeting in February stating: “The board discussed in detail the emotional impact of the rapid change on staff.
“(The) staff survey and site visit feedback indicate moral injury and the staff’s frustration not being able to deliver the care they want because of the waiting times.
“Despite challenges some significant and phenomenal positive initiatives were noted.”
These included fewer housing-related delayed discharges, improved rapid response and the rate of “place of safety” detentions by the police dropping by almost half as a result of closer liaison.
A report to the board said: “Our workforce position is challenged by rising sickness absence, temporary staff use, multiple change programme impacts, declining staff survey and engagement results.”
It noted that a number of changes were made in the past year as the trust tried to find savings totalling £25 million from a budget totalling about £560 million.
At University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (including the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton), multiple investigations and staff accounts have described a worrying pattern around whistleblowing:
• Staff reporting patient safety concerns allegedly facing **bullying, intimidation, or disciplinary action**
• Some whistleblowers reporting **career damage, sidelining, or job loss**
• Workers being labelled or treated as “troublemakers” after speaking up
• A workplace culture described by many staff as **authoritarian and hostile to challenge**
• Widespread fear among employees about **raising concerns at all**
• Reports of **low morale, psychological stress, anxiety, and burnout**
The result is what many have called a **“culture of fear”** — where staff stay silent not because issues don’t exist, but because speaking up can feel personally unsafe.
This creates a serious contradiction: while whistleblowing is legally protected in the NHS, the lived reality for many staff is that protections feel weak in practice, and retaliation fears remain high.
When people are too afraid to speak, patient safety concerns risk going unchallenged.