Mettam claims WA Health is hiding shortfalls after delays to find provider for Your Voice in Health survey

The WA Health Minister has been slammed for not finding a new provider for the department’s biggest staff engagement poll after the former contractor went into liquidation more than a year ago, with claims the delay is being used to hide shortfalls within the health system. The former provider of the Your Voice in Health survey, Big Village, sold its insights and agency divisions to market research company Ipsos in 2023 after filing for bankruptcy. The liquidation has cast doubt on the future of one of WA’s only centralised indicators of health staff morale, which in 2023 exposed widespread frustration and concern about the culture and environment in public hospitals and key services. A WA Health spokeswoman said the delay was due to a review of the survey being undertaken to inform future provider and platform requirements. “The contract with the external provider concluded at the end of 2023,” she said. “As is usual process, it is important that procurement activities are routinely reviewed to ensure they continue to meet the needs of the department.” She said WA Health values its employees and staff could still provide formal and informal feedback through their health service providers. Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said supporting the healthcare workforce was a priority for the Government. She said as well as progressing recommendations of the survey, the State Government was implementing nurse and midwife to patient ratios, delivering permanency to the workforce, listening to junior doctors, reviewing career paths for allied health, and developing a strategy to ensure WA Health is an employer of choice. “We have grown our healthcare workforce by 33 per cent since 2017,” Ms Sanderson said. “In contrast, the Liberal-National Opposition has no plan to manage global healthcare workforce shortages and no understanding of how to run a public health system.” But shadow health minister Libby Mettam claimed the lengthy delay to find a provider was a ploy to hide the shortfalls in WA’s health system. “The Health Minister clearly knows WA’s hospital system is in crisis with morale at an all-time low, and the decision not to produce the survey is the minister burying her head in the sand,” she said. “If the minister was doing her job and addressing the shortfalls identified in last year’s disastrous survey, she would be insisting on another survey to highlight any improvements. “Instead, she is trying to hide her disastrous record. The minister knows she has failed to improve morale or conditions for WA Health workers and is happy not to see that failure quantified and documented.” Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Janet Reah insisted a timeframe needed to be revealed for the release of the next survey results. “It would have been known to minister Sanderson for some time prior the contract was concluding and that a suitable provider was needed,” she said. “The Health Minister needs to be clearer and reveal an actual timeframe for the release of the next survey results. Will it be next year? Who knows at this point? “The Your Voice in Health survey was one of the only centralised indicators of staff morale and it is a shame politics seem to be being played with such a sensitive area.” Results of the engagement poll in 2023 revealed sentiment in the more than 21,000 respondents had shown little improvement from when the department last gauged morale in 2021. More than half said the organisation did not support their goals and only 47 per cent said they felt employers cared about their health and wellbeing. Themes included workers feeling “understaffed” and “undervalued”. Less than half felt positive their employer was future-proofing for upcoming challenges. Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page said he was hopeful WA Health was addressing areas of improvement identified in last year’s survey. “Surveys such as Your Voice in Health are important records of how employees are viewing their work environment at a given time, how it is contributing to their own wellbeing and that of the patients they care for, and the health of the community as a whole,” he said. “Any lack of continuity in a survey of this significance is of concern. However, the 2023 Your Voice in Health survey identified numerous areas in which improvement was clearly required. “WA Health is hopefully addressing those areas of greatest deficit systematically and with due care and deliberation.”