Why staff got chocs

• IT was with regret that we read your report (‘Chocolates for votes’ NHS quiz, December 11), which was short on fact and long on speculation.
Proper and balanced reporting of the facts would have shown:
• the trust has been awarded the top grade of “excellent” from the Care Quality Commission for quality of care and financial management, as direct result of the efforts, care and attention of staff;
• to thank each member of staff for their part in this achievement, we gave a token box of four individual Belgian chocolates, along with a letter of thanks;
• these were sent out in late November, at a cost of £1.50 per staff member using our internal post to eliminate postage costs.
The staff survey referred to is an independent national survey of all NHS staff. The survey forms were distributed to all NHS trusts in October and 60 per cent of staff responded quickly. Reminders sent out to those who were slower to respond in mid-November were sent separately. It is possible that some of the remaining 40 per cent of staff who had not yet returned their survey could have coincidentally received the chocolates (distributed at the end of November) at the same time as one of the survey communications.
The staff survey is undertaken by an independent organisation and all responses are anonymous, and all completed forms returned to the independent organisation. We encourage all staff to complete this form to ensure we hear the honest views of as many staff as possible. When we receive the staff survey results from the research agency in March, we will set up a working group to prioritise the recommendations drawn from the survey and act on these. Changes made as a result of previous surveys include setting up an in-house human resources department, employing a nurse consultant to help staff with difficult situations and providing a range of free exercise classes for staff.
I wish to reiterate how proud we are of our staff and the work they have put in to enable us to be one of 38 trusts (out of 392 nationwide) to achieve this accolade.
Our chief executive, Wendy Wallace, has been heartened to receive quite a number of personal emails of thanks in response to the chocolates we sent out.
IAN STONEHAM
Director of corporate and business development
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust