THE chief nurse at Andover War Memor-ial Hospital has supported a national re-port which shows that the way healthcare staff feel about their work has a direct impact on the quality of patient care.

Donna Green, chief nurse and deputy chief executive at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was part of a national advisory panel of senior NHS figures who assisted the Point Of Care Foundation with their report Staff Care: How to engage staff in the NHS and why it matters.

The reports comes following harrowing accounts about the treatment of patients in some NHS hospitals in the country.

Published on 15 January it says that caring about staff is the key to developing a caring and compassionate NHS. It also argues that high-quality, patient-centred care depends on managing staff well, involving them in decisions, listening to what they have to say, developing them and paying attention to the physical and emotional consequences of caring for patients.

Donna Green said: “I was pleased to be asked to be part of this study and to be able to share the work that we do at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to value, recognise, develop and support our staff so that they can provide the best possible care for our patients.

““We are proud of the hard work of our staff and the 100 WOW! nominations we receive for members of staff are a measure of their care and compassion.

“We haven’t got everything right yet but we aim to provide a safe environment to allow staff to feel they can raise concerns and make suggestions for improvement.

This starts with an open door policy at the top of the organisation and includes regular walk rounds by the board of directors.”