Airedale General Hospital has performed strongly in a national staff survey.

The vast majority of those who responded said they would recommend the NHS trust to family and friends for treatment.

Just less than half the workforce took part, but bosses at the Steeton site say they are pleased with the response.

And the findings have been published during a controversial period for the trust, which has come under fire for its setting-up of a new company to run some services at the hospital.

UNISON has accused trust chiefs of acting “recklessly” over the move, which they refute.

The national NHS staff survey runs from September to early December every year.

Latest results show that staff are positive about working at the trust, and there had been an improvement in overall engagement – which was above average for trusts of a similar type – and the quality of appraisals.

There was also “significant improvement” in staff 's views that good communication existed between senior management and employees.

Nationally, Airedale is benchmarked against other acute trusts and is performing above average in 25 out of 32 of the survey’s key findings.

Plus it is in the top 20 per cent in 13 categories including effective team working and use of patient feedback, and appraisals.

Nick Parker, director of human resources and workforce at the trust, welcomed the findings.

“I am impressed that we had such a good response rate during what was a busy time both in the hospital and out in the community,” he said.

“I am also very encouraged by the results, which indicate that – whilst responding to service demands and the needs of our population presents challenges – our people remain positive about Airedale as a health care provider and place to work.

“However, we are not complacent.

“There is still more for us to do if we are to be the great place for people to receive care and to work that we aspire towards.

“The survey shows that our staff are less satisfied with the quality of care or work they can deliver when compared to colleagues in some other acute trusts, and with resourcing – staff, materials and equipment.

“They also appear less likely to report inappropriate behaviour from patients, families, the public, managers and staff than employees at other acute trusts.”

He added: “The most important thing is that we listen to what our people have said, and build on it, so that we become an even better place to work.

“We will be feeding the results into our ‘people plan’ and will consider with our staff representatives, employees and board of directors how further improvements can be made.

“All our departments will develop their own individual plans to address any local issues.”

Questions in the survey are structured around four pledges to staff in the NHS constitution – having clear roles and responsibilities and rewarding jobs which make a difference to patients; personal development; support around their health, wellbeing and safety, and engaging them in decisions which affect their work, staff satisfaction and equality and diversity.

Each of the 309 NHS organisations that took part in last year’s staff survey were given a detailed feedback report on their findings.

For the full results, visit nhsstaffsurveys.com.