Case Study: Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust improves staff engagement and patient experience with NHS Employers

Staff engagement at Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Employers worked with Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, a large mental health and learning disability provider serving about 1.4 million people, as it continued to strengthen staff engagement after a complex merger and operational changes. The trust’s challenge was to keep improving care quality, staff experience, and service-user involvement while embedding consistent governance, values, and a positive, open culture across more than 6,000 staff.

NHS Employers’ case study highlights how Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust used devolved locality-based leadership, real-time patient feedback, staff listening forums, visible senior leadership, and strong development and wellbeing support to improve engagement and learning. The approach helped the trust maintain above-average staff engagement, earn strong recognition including HSJ awards, and achieve measurable outcomes such as a 95% positive response on staff wellbeing action, low qualified nurse turnover at 8%, and improved staff survey response rates.

Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust