Online HSE survey for healthcare staff open to the public

An online survey by the HSE to seek the views of healthcare staff can be accessed by anyone, whether a health professional or not.

While those taking part are asked about the health area in which they work, there is no requirement to prove identity or show that they are, in fact, health professionals.

The stated purpose of the survey is to influence HSE policy on how to improve the health service for patients and staff.

However, the absence of any effective control is certain to affect its efficacy.

In fact, this writer was able to complete the survey without any verification process, apart from ticking a box to prove the respondent was not a ‘robot’.

Another non-health professional who did the survey was Claire Ní Fhearghail, from Tipperary. “I saw a tweet from the head of the HSE Tony O’Brien encouraging staff to take part in the survey.

“I went online and found, to my surprise, that I could access it easily, even though I have never worked in the health area. I took on the persona of a friend of mine who is a social worker, answering the questions as I think she might do. At every stage, I expected that I would be asked for some form of identification, but I wasn’t.”

This is the second HSE employee survey. It was launched on September 28 and dubbed, The Health Sector National Staff Survey ‘Your Opinion Counts.’ Employees were given one month to respond.

“This important 2016 survey builds on the first national staff survey carried out in 2014. The purpose of the survey is to access current staff views and opinions to identify opportunities for improvement to help to build a better health service for all,” the HSE said.

The survey is being conducted by independent market research and polling company, Ipsos MRBI. Asked to comment on why there was no verification process, a spokes- person for the company indicated it was a matter for the HSE. Findings are due to be shared with staff during workshops beginning early next year.

It is described by the HSE as a ‘priority action’ for the Health Service People Strategy 2015-2018, and the purpose is to conduct staff surveys to ensure that the voice of staff is heard.

“Coupled with this is the need to work with our services to take actions based on the findings. Their feedback is important and will guide us on what we can do to make our services better, both for our service users and for staff,” HSE said at the survey’s launch.