Central Surrey Health

Case Study

Co-owner Engagement Survey, 2011

The client

Central Surrey Health (CSH) provides high quality therapeutic and community nursing services to 280,000 residents in its local area. The first social enterprise to emerge from the NHS, CSH is co-owned and run by the 700+ nurses and therapists it employs.

The requirement

Until 2011, CSH relied on a national survey to measure co-owner engagement, motivation and productivity. The data it collected was useful for improving all these factors, but due to Government cuts the survey was cancelled.

However, CSH takes co-owner engagement seriously – so it asked The Survey Initiative to create and conduct a private survey that would provide the data it needed.

The survey

The Survey Initiative created a robust and effective co-owner survey and worked hard to generate a high response rate.

Our team worked alongside CSH to communicate the actions completed after the earlier survey, emphasising the enterprise’s strong record for making change happen.

Next, we relayed the joint MDs’ support for the survey, worked with CSH to create clear branding, and advised on a poster campaign that built anticipation in the lead up to the survey’s launch.

Most importantly, we provided live response data – relaying results to managers as they came in. This allowed them to stimulate a greater response in departments where it was initially slow.

The results

The response to the survey was exceptional – compared to the previous year’s survey, there was a dramatic 25% point increase.

“The more people we survey, the greater insight we get into how people are feeling,” explained HR Director of Central Surrey Health Ron Smith. “So we were genuinely delighted that the 2011 co-owner survey saw a huge point increase in the response rate from 44% to 69%.”

The increase also ensured the collected data was much more robust, allowing CSH to make confident decisions affecting co-owner engagement and ultimately make improvements to the excellent patient care it provides.

The future

Central Surrey Health’s next step was to distribute the results of the survey throughout the business, giving co-owners the opportunity to expand on any concerns raised and suggest possible solutions.

Ron Smith has no doubt why the results are valuable to the social enterprise’s future: “Our approach at CSH is very much ‘You said, we did’ – so we will make sure all feedback is listened to and acted upon.”