The NHS Staff survey was implemented in full for the first time in the autumn of 2003 and has been repeated every year since then. Questionnaires are sent to nearly 560 000 staff throughout England each year.

The purpose of the NHS Staff Survey is to collect staff views and experiences of working in their local NHS trust and to provide information for deriving national and local performance indicators. Results from the survey are used by these NHS organisations to identify areas for improvement, registration, periodic review, Quality and Risk Profiles and national studies.

The Framework Suppliers provide the following Services:

— Providing practical support and advice for selecting a sample of staff in accordance with the specification set out by the Advice Centre.

— Printing questionnaires, covering letters, reminders etc.

— Advising trusts on their pre-survey communication strategy

— Distribution of survey materials, and handling receipt of questionnaires.

— Liaising with trusts about non-responses and reminders.

— Providing support and advice to ensure good response rates.

— Data entry, cleaning data and providing data to the Advice Centre by the required deadline in the specified format (the Advice Centre will be responsible for providing basic standard reports of survey findings to NHS trusts).

The Survey Framework is supported by the NHS Staff Survey Advice Centre (Advice Centre). Working with the Contracting Authority and with the independent NHS Staff Survey Improvement Board, this Advice Centre is responsible for designing the surveys, preparing guidance and co-ordinating implementation of the surveys at the local level.