A survey of staff at the trust which runs Grantham Hospital has uncovered poor and worsening morale, plus many reporting bullying from colleagues and managers.

The staff survey for 2020 at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust was raised at a Lincolnshire health scrutiny committee meeting earlier this week.

The survey said growing numbers of staff, now almost half, said they have felt unwell due to stress at work.

Some 37 per cent often think about leaving ULHT, the survey found, though this was down on the over 40 per cent recorded in 2018. In addition, a quarter were looking for another job elsewhere.

The survey also reported more than a quarter reported bullying over the past year from patients and the public, almost a fifth experiencing bullying from managers, and almost a quarter from colleagues.

A small number- 1-2 per cent- also reported violence from managers and colleagues.

Though still a majority, a declining number of ULHT staff looked forward to going to work and less than half would recommend it as a place to work. A fifth said they would leave as soon as they could find another job.

The survey added there 'statistically significant' declines in morale, staff engagement and team working, but ULHT scored better with health and well-being.

The results come as a blow to ULHT, which has previously recognised it has a problem with bullying and staff morale.

Grantham hospital campaigner Coun Ray Wootten says he has raised this issue at previous ULHT board meetings.

At a trust meeting this week, Coun Wootten, who is a member of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, called for the staff survey to be placed on the agenda of a future scrutiny meeting.

Coun Wootten says looking at the results over the past few years it reveals that nothing has changed and that moral is rock bottom.

He told Nub News: "I am pleased that the committee will be able to debate this at a future meeting. There is nothing worse than having to go to work and be unhappy and not appreciated by line managers."

ULHT Chief Executive, Andrew Morgan, said: "We would like to thank our staff for taking part in the Staff Survey. This has provided us with plenty of valuable feedback to enable us to bring about real change. Our staff and their wellbeing are extremely important and their input into how we work as an organisation is vital.

He also told Nub News: "Unfortunately, the results of the 2020 survey were extremely disappointing. Whilst clearly our experience working with COVID over the last 12 months will have had an impact on how people feel, this cannot be the sole reason for our disappointing scores and certainly not an excuse.

"We have to do something fundamentally different to make ULHT a better place for our staff to work. We have already signed the Trust up to the NHS "Culture and Leadership Programme", something which has delivered real improvements in other organisations. It is a programme that is not done to the organisation or its staff, but with them and by them."

He added: "We will be working together to make the changes we require, so that all of our people are proud to work for ULHT- an organisation delivering outstanding care.

"We will take forward this work as part of our five-year Integrated Improvement Plan which we launched in 2020.''

The full report can be found here.