Great place to work

Supported by Annual delivery plan 2: Great Place to Work 

Our staff are central to everything we do. A stable, skilled and supported workforce helps us deliver safer, more consistent and more compassionate care for patients, carers and communities. Throughout the year, we continued to focus on culture, leadership, staff wellbeing, inclusion and creating a workplace where people feel valued, safe to speak up and able to do their best work.

Our workforce

Our permanent workforce grew to more than 3,100 whole-time equivalent staff. Growth was seen across all major staff groups, particularly nursing and midwifery, healthcare support roles, and scientific and therapeutic professions. 

Vacancy, turnover and temporary staffing

Average vacancy rates fell to 8.4%, compared with 13% the previous year, and medical vacancies fell from 8.6% to 2.6%. Turnover fell from 12% to 10%, reflecting proactive recruitment and improved retention despite continued workforce growth. Our Turnover figures are also published nationally as part of the NHS workforce statistics.

Workforce growth has supported more stable teams, better continuity of care and less reliance on agency staffing. Agency use fell by more than 50%, supporting safer staffing, better value for money and more consistent care.

However, Bank staffing increased in response to patient acuity and observation requirements. Reducing reliance on bank staffing, particularly for enhanced observations, will remain a focus in 2026-2027.

Staff wellbeing and sickness absence

Average sickness absence was 4.8%, compared with 4.5% the previous year, and remained above our 3.5% target. However, it remained below national and London mental health benchmarks. We continued to strengthen support for staff wellbeing. This included introducing a new sickness absence policy, targeted support for managers, and better use of data to understand the causes of absence and identify areas for improvement.

Reducing sickness absence remains a priority, with continued focus on early support, staff wellbeing and consistent management practice.

Leadership, development and appraisal

We invested in leadership development to support staff at all levels. This included leadership programmes, webinars and targeted support for new and emerging leaders. We also expanded development opportunities for Band 6 staff and future leaders.

Opportunities for learning and career progression also increased. We supported 189 apprentices across 35 programmes. Of these:

• 66% were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds
• 43% progressed into new roles on completion
• 77% reported that their apprenticeship supported career progression  

Supervision and appraisal compliance remained below target (82%), similar to the previous year, and Performance Appraisal and Development Review compliance was 82%.

Mandatory and statutory training compliance was above target at 92%. We are reviewing these processes to improve consistency and ensure staff receive the support, feedback and development they need. Updated resources and training have already been introduced, and we will continue to focus on improving the quality of these conversations.

Making Life Better Together: shaping our culture

Making Life Better Together (MLBT) continued to bring together work on organisational development, leadership, staff wellbeing, co-production, inclusion, psychological safety and continuous improvement. The programme supported a number of key initiatives, including:

• our active anti-racism commitment
• improvements to speaking up through the “Call It Out” campaign
• change management and “Changing Well”
• strengthening co-production and lived experience involvement
• leadership development
• building more effective multidisciplinary teams  

Executive Advisory Group

Our Executive Advisory Group continued to play an important role in shaping organisational priorities, culture and decision-making. The group brings together staff and people with lived experience to support the Chief Executive and Executive Team through constructive challenge, insight and open discussion. The group contributed to several major areas of organisational development, including:

• development of the future Trust Strategy and what it should mean in practice for staff, patients and communities
• development of organisational culture and the shared cultural ambition
• work on “Changing Well” and the development of principles for compassionate change management
• health inequalities and anti-racism, including the importance of transparent data and partnership with communities 
• development of the Active Bystander and “Call It Out” programmes to strengthen psychological safety and challenge discrimination. 

Tackling violence and aggression

We continued strengthening our approach to violence and aggression, recognising the impact on staff and patient wellbeing, safety and experience.

A major focus was improving support for staff following incidents. We introduced new post-incident guidance for managers, launched dedicated staff support resources and strengthened debrief and wellbeing support. We also continued work to address racial abuse and its disproportionate impact on Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff.

Incident reporting systems were improved through updates to Ulysses, including clearer reporting categories for racial abuse and violence, wellbeing check prompts and improved manager notifications. This strengthened oversight, reporting accuracy and follow-up support for staff.

In December 2025, we secured more than £220,000 in national funding to develop a culturally sensitive, trauma-informed psychological support programme for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff affected by violence, abuse and racial trauma.

Staff survey results showed improved support from managers following incidents, although violence and aggression remain significant challenges across services. Further work in 2026 — 2027 will focus on prevention, psychological support and safer working environments.

Strengthening speaking up and “Call It Out”

Following staff survey feedback, we strengthened work to create a culture where staff feel safe to raise concerns and confident they will receive a response.

We expanded opportunities for staff to speak up, improved visibility of support routes and strengthened feedback processes so staff receive clearer and timelier responses.

Alongside this, we launched the “Call It Out” campaign with staff networks, Evolve and the Executive Advisory Group. The campaign encourages staff and volunteers to challenge inappropriate behaviour, discrimination and racism. This included introducing an Active Bystander approach to help staff intervene safely and confidently when they witness concerning behaviour or situations.

Improvements in the staff survey

The 2025 NHS Staff Survey showed continued improvement in staff experience, marking a fourth consecutive year of progress. Nearly 2,000 colleagues completed the survey, representing a 62% response rate, including strong participation from frontline clinical teams.

Overall, we were ranked the sixth most improved and the 12th highest-scoring mental health trust nationally. The survey reflected positive progress across several areas linked to staff experience and organisational culture.

• 81% of respondents said care is the organisation’s top priority 
• 69% would recommend us as a place to work
• 65% would recommend the care we provide  

All three measures were above the mental health sector average.

Improvements were seen across all NHS People Promise domains, particularly compassion and inclusion, learning and development, recognition and reward, and morale. We are now at or above the mental health sector average in seven of the nine People Promise areas.

While the results are encouraging, the survey also identified areas requiring further improvement. Priorities for 2026/27 include:

• strengthening psychological safety and confidence in raising concerns
• reducing violence and aggression towards staff
• improving flexible working opportunities
• ensuring staff have the tools, equipment and support they need  

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to becoming an actively anti-racist, anti-discriminatory and inclusive organisation. This means creating a workplace where staff feel they belong, are treated fairly, and have equitable opportunities to develop and progress.

We developed a delivery plan aligned to the NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan and its six High Impact Actions. This supports our aim of making South West London and St George’s a great place to work by strengthening psychological safety, improving inclusion and embedding anti-racism across the organisation.

Each Board member has made an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pledge. 

Increasing cultural capability

We continued to strengthen cultural capability, inclusion and anti-racist practice across the workforce as part of the wider Making Life Better Together programme. Workforce development initiatives included:

• anti-bias recruitment training for managers
• active anti-racism learning sets for staff
• strengthened Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives for Board members and senior leaders
• leadership development focused on inclusion and psychological safety  

Staff networks, Equality and Engagement Champions and the Diversity in Decision Making programme continued to support learning, challenge and representation across the organisation.

This was supported by Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Big Conversations, leadership development and wider organisational development work designed to strengthen psychological safety, encourage open discussion and support staff to bring their whole selves to work.

Core Five action plan: Following review of our Workforce Race Equality Standard, Workforce Disability Equality Standard and pay gap data, we developed a focused Core Five action plan. The plan was developed with Staff Network Chairs and informed by workforce data. It focuses on areas where targeted action can make the greatest difference. Dedicated delivery and review groups were established in December 2025 to oversee progress, identify risks and support implementation.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Big Conversations: We introduced Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Big Conversations to create space for open discussion with staff. These sessions provide updates on race and disability equality priorities, share available support and gather feedback on where further improvement is needed. 

Diversity in recruitment: Our Diversity in Recruitment process continues to support fair and inclusive recruitment. In 2025, we relaunched the programme, expanded training and increased the number of active champions. We also strengthened escalation routes so champions can raise concerns about recruitment decisions where needed. From February 2026, Diversity in Recruitment representation became mandatory on all Band 8a and above recruitment panels.

Our workforce diversity

Our workforce is ethnically diverse, with staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds representing 54% of the overall workforce. Representation is particularly strong in Bands 2-4, where nearly 69% of staff are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and in Bands 5-7, where representation is just over 54%. Representation falls at more senior levels, with Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff making up 32% of staff in Bands 8a-9 and 28% of Very Senior Manager and Non-Executive Director roles.

Staff who identify as disabled represent 10% of the overall workforce. Representation is highest within Bands 5-7, where 12% of staff identify as disabled, followed by Bands 2-4 at 10.%. Representation is lower in more senior roles, with disabled staff making up 7.21% of staff in Bands 8a–9, 5.56% of Non-Executive Director and Very Senior Manager roles, and 4.35% within Medical staffing groups. 

Our workforce remains predominantly female across most staff groups and seniority levels. Women represent around 70% of the workforce overall, with particularly strong representation across nursing, clinical and operational roles. Women were also well represented in senior leadership roles, including Very Senior Manager and Non-Executive Director positions.

Workforce equality standards

We published our 2024/25 Workforce Race Equality Standard and Workforce Disability Equality Standard reports .  

This year’s staff survey results showed some improvement for disabled staff, including:

• improved confidence in equal opportunities for career progression and promotion
• a small increase in staff reporting reasonable adjustments had been made
• engagement scores remaining similar to the previous year 

However, challenges remain, including harassment from colleagues and staff feeling pressure to attend work when unwell.  

For Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, results showed:

• fewer staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from colleagues
• improved confidence in equal opportunities for career progression and promotion
• fewer staff experiencing discrimination from managers or colleagues 

However, harassment, bullying and abuse from patients, relatives or the public increased, highlighting the need for continued action to protect and support staff.  

Pay gap reporting

We publish pay gap reports to understand differences in average pay between groups of staff. These reports help identify structural inequalities, although they do not necessarily indicate unequal pay for the same role. Our analysis shows that meaningful improvement depends on increasing the representation of staff with diverse protected characteristics at all levels, particularly in senior and higher-paid roles.  

This links closely to our work on recruitment, retention, career progression and leadership development.  

In March 2026, we published our ninth Gender Pay Gap Report, our Ethnicity Pay Gap Report and our first Disability Pay Gap Report. These showed:

• a mean gender pay gap of 5.04%
• a mean ethnicity pay gap of 16.62%
• a mean disability pay gap of 8.81% 

We will continue using this data to target action and improve workforce equity.  

Staff networks and staff voice

Our seven staff networks continue to play an important role in making the organisation more inclusive and anti-discriminatory. They support staff, raise awareness, contribute to policy development, and provide challenge and insight to senior leaders. They have supported induction, delivered awareness events, contributed to organisational celebrations, and helped staff feel connected and represented. 

Looking ahead

We will continue focusing on creating a safer, more inclusive and supportive place to work. Priorities for 2026/27 include reducing violence and aggression, improving psychological safety and strengthening support for staff wellbeing, including reducing sickness absence and improving flexible working opportunities. We will continue investing in learning, leadership development and career progression, while strengthening anti-racist practice and inclusion across the organisation.

We also remain committed to improving outcomes in the NHS Staff Survey, Workforce Race Equality Standard and Workforce Disability Equality Standard, with continued focus on tackling discrimination, improving representation and ensuring all staff feel valued, supported and able to thrive at work