RateMyShift

Problem

The NHS and wider health and care system face a workforce crisis with implications for staff wellbeing, patient safety, and service delivery. Hospital and Community Health Services in England have:

• c.103,000 vacancies
• 1 in 14 roles unfilled
• 9.9% annual staff turnover
• 152,000 staff leaving (2024-25)

High vacancies exacerbate workloads; staff are exhausted and struggling to deliver care safely (Darzi, 2024; NHS England People Plan 2015). The 2024 NHS Staff Survey found 29% of staff think about leaving, 42% feel unwell due to work-related stress, and 30% feel burnt out. These pressures affect clinical and non-clinical staff and are linked to reduced wellbeing, increased risk of errors, and poor patient outcomes. National inquiries (e.g., Francis and Ockenden) have highlighted that when staff concerns go unrecognised or unaddressed, warning signs are missed, resulting in harm.

Nevertheless, the NHS lacks a real-time mechanism to capture how pressures are experienced in shifts or by teams; organisations rely on retrospective surveys. Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) data showed a record 32,167 cases (2023-24); one-in-three cases involved staff safety/wellbeing. RCN surveys show that c.40% of nurses are thinking of leaving.

Staff are often forced to escalate concerns late rather than being supported when needed; opportunities for early intervention are missed, leading to issues escalating, contributing to sickness absence, turnover, and stress.

Solution

With RateMyShift, staff rate how they feel after each shift using a web app on their mobile phone, PC, or laptop. They do this by selecting a simple emoji-like ‘face’, with the option to add brief feedback via a text box.

Managers can view how all staff are feeling in their teams. Negative responses prompt timely, supportive 1:1 conversations which are categorised to identify trends, patterns, and concerns. This provides a clear, real-time, bird’s-eye view of workforce experience.

By turning immediate feedback into timely action, RateMyShift strengthens staff wellbeing, motivation, and retention. It complements annual staff surveys, appraisals, and incident reports by filling a critical gap: capturing workforce experience of actual shifts, when pressure is building.

Using RateMyShift, organisations can:

• Track and correlate staff feelings with indicators like retention, sickness absence, and patient safety.
• Allocate staff support to areas under pressure when needed.
• Improve how staff feel at work and strengthen the connection between frontline staff and managers, supporting an open speak-up culture.
• Make data-informed decisions to improve performance, patient care, and staff experience.

Impact

Results of RateMyShift v1.0 pilot

Sirona OOH Teams:

• Reduced Isolation: Provided a “consistent voice” for remote staff
• Responsiveness: 99% follow-up completion (99/100 prompts) ensured staff felt valued
• Visibility: Resolved 100 previously “unseen” shift issues
• Culture: Addressed 2023 survey concerns regarding feeling unsupported
• Data Integration: Sentiment data strengthened Quality Assurance reporting
• Retention: Fostered a proactive leadership and learning culture
• Sentiment: Captured 733 ratings (65%+ positive)

Mid Yorkshire NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Plymouth, & Sirona Care and Health:

• Efficiency: Real-time “workflow friction” data optimized operations
• Insights: Transformed anecdotes into measurable, actionable data
• Proactive: Prevented issues from escalating into service risks
• Governance: Enabled long-term trend analysis over reactive management
• Financials: Laid foundations for reduced turnover and improved service quality