Staff poll back on the cards after tender listed more than two years since last Your Voice in Health survey

WA Health is still looking for a company to run the department’s biggest staff engagement poll, almost two years after the former contractor went into liquidation, leaving department employees without a way to raise concerns about working conditions. The department put the Your Voice in Health survey under review in 2023 but the workforce poll is expected to return in 2026 after a tender was listed on Monday for a contractor to take on a potential five-year contract. It is expected health workers will be able to take a survey in 2026 with further surveys planned for 2028 and 2030, according to the tender. Shadow health minister Libby Mettam said it was unacceptable that one of few indicators of staff morale in the public health system had been left in limbo. “The Health Minister’s continued failure to appoint a contractor for the Your Voice in Health survey makes it clear that this government has little interest in listening to the very people who keep our health system running,” she said. “The Cook Labor government has ignored the serious issues raised in the last survey and now risks going four full years without any meaningful insight into the pressures facing frontline staff.” Past results revealed widespread frustration and culture concerns within hospitals and other services. In 2023, the survey found three-quarters of staff felt undervalued, while only half said it was safe to speak up and challenge the way things were done. In the four surveys conducted since 2019, staff wellbeing and resourcing have remained the primary issues staff seek to improve. Health Minister Meredith Hammat said nothing was more important to the State’s health system than the workforce. “The Department of Health is actively working to get a new staff survey developed and sent out to all health service providers, to ensure all staff are operating in a safe and effective work environment,” she said. The Health Services Union of WA took matters into its own hands in January, conducting its own survey after former Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson did not commit to any future workforce polls. HSUWA secretary Naomi McCrae welcomed the tender but said it came after two years of the State Government having no appetite to hear from the workforce. “It’s really important that the Your Voice in Health survey is run consistently, and the results are tracked, and the progress of improvements made in response are reported transparently,” she said. “Listening to the workforce is the bare minimum the Department and the State Government can do to begin to tackle the issues within public health, particularly those relating to attraction and retention of a workforce stretched to its limits.” The tender outlined that following the Department’s review of the survey, the latest iteration of the workforce poll will have a focus on “key WA health system workforce-related policy and issues”. The objectives of each survey are expected to include employee experience and satisfaction as well as identifying areas for improvement.