LESS than two-thirds of staff employed at an NHS trust, which provides mental health and learning disability services in Oldham, would feel happy if a loved one needed to be treated by the organisation.

The staggering finding was revealed in the latest NHS Staff Survey, which has polled health workers across England.

At Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, which also provides services in Rochdale, Tameside, Bury and Stockport, just 61 per cent of staff said that if a friend or relative needed treatment, they would be happy with the standard of care provided by their organisation.

This was down from 69 per cent the year before, according to the report, which included responses from 1,224 staff at the trust.

It reflected a downturn across England as a whole, where 68 per cent of staff said they would feel happy with the standard of care provided for a loved one – down from 74 per cent in 2020.

The survey also revealed that just 31 per cent of employees at Pennine Care think there are enough staff at their organisation for them to do their job properly – a considerable drop from 42 per cent in 2020.

Some 48 per cent of staff had felt unwell because of work-related stress in the previous 12 months, while 26 per cent often or always felt burnt out because of their job.

And roughly 71 per cent said they feel enthusiastic about their job, compared to 75 per cent a year earlier.

In response to the survey findings, Nicky Littler, director of workforce at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “Across the NHS there has been a fall in the results from the annual staff survey – reflecting what has been an extremely difficult period and which has inevitably impacted on people’s personal and working lives.

“We are disappointed with our results, as we all care passionately about this.

"It’s been an exceptionally difficult year in terms of service and workforce pressures, but we have to ensure that our staff have everything they need to provide the highest quality care.

“The results show that we have improved in some areas, but we are already looking at what we can do to make improvements across every single area.

“A lot of work will be taking place on every level to support teams and staff groups to address as many areas as we can of what you have told us in this survey. It’s essential that we look after our staff and make this a great place to work.”