South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) outperformed the sector average across all nine People Promise themes and achieved a joint-highest response rate of 71 per cent, reflecting strong staff engagement and one of the Trust’s most positive survey results to date. 

Results published today, Thursday 12 March, show that 71 per cent – a record 3,625 of SECAmb colleagues – took part in the survey. This represents a joint-highest response rate among ambulance services.  

Despite a year of significant organisational change, the results demonstrate continued progress in several key areas, including staff confidence to speak up, flexible working and inclusivity. 

Seven in 10 colleagues (69.7 per cent) said they feel secure raising clinical safety concerns – an increase from 67.2 per cent in the 2024 survey and above the sector average. The improvement reflects ongoing work to strengthen psychological safety and ensure colleagues feel confident sharing concerns and ideas. 

The survey also highlights continued progress in flexible working. The Work Flexibly theme has improved by +1.00 since 2022 – one of the largest increases across all themes. This progress was driven directly by staff feedback gathered through engagement sessions, where colleagues highlighted flexibility as a priority for improving their working lives. 

Inclusivity has also strengthened significantly across the Trust. The proportion of staff who agree the organisation respects individual differences has risen by 15 per cent, from 49.2 per cent to 64.4 per cent. SECAmb also achieved sector-leading performance in the Compassionate and Inclusive Leadership theme, scoring 7.05 compared with a sector median of 6.72. 

SECAmb’s results also revealed: 

  • 80 per cent of colleagues feel their role makes a difference to patients 
  • 70 per cent agreed that colleagues are polite and respectful to each other 
  • 73 per cent said that managers listen to challenges 

Chief Executive for SECAmb, Simon Weldon, said: “These results reflect a huge amount of hard work across SECAmb and I want to thank every colleague who took the time to share their feedback. It’s encouraging to see such positive progress, particularly during a year of considerable change.

“We know that in 2024 we had work to do on inclusivity and flexibility. This year’s results show clear and meaningful improvement in these areas.

“While the overall picture is positive, we recognise that motivation and autonomy dipped slightly across the NHS and within SECAmb during this period of significant change. These findings are important as we move toward the group model with South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), helping us focus on the right areas so we continue to build on strong foundations.”

To view SECAmb’s NHS Staff Survey results in full visit: nhs-england-staff-survey-results-2025-summary-report