Approachable managers linked to better error reporting, analysis finds

There is a “strong association” between staff experience of senior management and whether an organisation acts on error reporting, exclusive analysis for HSJ of the staff survey data suggests.

Analysis by health and social care charity Picker Institute examined statistical relationships between responses to staff survey questions regarding staff communication with managers and those relating to error reporting.

The analysis, which included all trust types, looked at the relationships between statements such as “communication between senior managers and staff is effective” and “I know who the senior managers are here” to “When errors, near misses or incidents are reported, my organisation takes action to ensure they do not happen again” and other similar indicators.

A high correlation to the questions does not categorically prove a direct causal relationship but the data suggested “strong associations”, Picker Institute chief statistician Steve Sizmur told HSJ.

He said: “There are a number of strong associations in the latest staff survey data, to the extent that there is likely to be a link between staff experiences of senior management and their views about error reporting and whether the organisation addresses their concerns.”

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Source: HSJ, 27 February 2020