Case Study: East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust improves staff engagement with NHS Employers

Making progress on staff engagement the East Sussex Experience

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, an integrated trust serving around 525,000 people across hospital and community services in East Sussex, was struggling with low staff engagement, poor survey results, and a disconnected culture between the ward and board. Facing financial and performance pressures and placed into special measures by the CQC in 2015, the trust needed a way to improve employee engagement and rebuild its culture. NHS Employers supported the trust with its engagement toolkit and NHS Engagement Star model.

NHS Employers helped East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust create a board-backed, trust-wide engagement programme covering leadership, involvement, development, role value, and wellbeing. The trust introduced initiatives such as Marvellous Teams, roadshows, speak up guardian support, staff forums, and director walkabouts, alongside local action plans in each division. The impact was strong: staff survey response rose by 6% to 46%, 24 of 32 key findings improved, medical engagement scores turned from red to green, and the CQC described the culture change as “remarkable,” with the trust ranking among the top three most improved staff survey results in England in 2016.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust