HOSPITAL staff across the area are confident they can raise concerns with bosses, according to the results of a national NHS survey

The data, published yesterday, show more employees of the trust in charge of Furness General Hospital would step forward to report unsafe clinical practice than last year in a bid to improve patient safety.

Overall scores given by those working at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, place the organisation in the top 20 per cent nationally for 25 per cent of the questions asked.

David Wilkinson, the trust's director of workforce and organisational development, said: "We are really pleased that we have seen improvements in the staff survey results, which come a month after the Care Quality Commission rated the trust as 'good' overall, highlighted the huge cultural change at UHMBT.

“It is great news that there has been such an increase in staff feeling confident and secure in reporting unsafe clinical practice, and a 34 per cent increase in staff reporting any experiences of bullying and harassment - where the higher the score, the better.

"We have been creating a cultural shift where all staff, volunteers, students and governors feel able to raise any issues or concerns and know that they will be addressed confidentially, swiftly, and in line with good practice."

The NHS Staff Survey is undertaken every year to gauge morale among staff across the UK.

The results for 2016 reveal the percentage of people working at FGH, Westmorland General Hospital and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary who turned up for work while unwell because they felt under pressure from managers has dropped.

The percentage of staff and colleagues reporting a recent experience of harassment, bullying and abuse has gone up, while the number of staff who state they have experienced discrimination in the last 12 months has gone down.

The results also revealed some areas where improvement is required.

These include the quality of appraisals, quality of non-mandatory learning or training and support from immediate managers.

Mr Wilkinson said: "There is still a lot of work to do and this survey reflects where we as a trust need to improve.

“I’d like to thank all the staff who took the time to respond to the survey.

"It is one of a number of important methods we use to gauge what it is like to work in our hospitals - what we are doing right and where we need to do some more work."