The YouGov National ENT Survey: Now closed. Results to be published shortly.
The survey is open to all ENT doctors in the United Kingdom.
Thank you for completing the YouGov National ENT survey. We believe that solving the challenges we have in the workplace starts with everyone being able to voice their experiences - positive and negative. This will allow us to identify where we excel; also, spotlight the burdens we have as a specialty and how we can improve the workplace by targeting these issues. Your voice is essential and important: for our workforce and our patients. The survey explores areas such as career progression, mentorship, workplace conflict, harassment, bullying, discrimination, etc. Furthermore, it invites you to suggest how we can improve our workplace culture. Your responses are entirely confidential and we thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us. You will receive the survey link via an ENT related organisation close to you. You can also sign up on this page to receive the confidential survey link.
Frequently Asked Questions about the survey
1. Can the survey be stopped and restarted where one has left off ?
Yes. Just leave the browser open and return to it when you are ready within the same 24 hour period
2. How long on average does it take to complete the survey ?
It takes about 13-15 minutes on average to complete the survey. You only need to complete it once.
3 How can I get access to the survey ?
The link will be shared via national ENT related organisations, departments and deaneries. You may also email admin@aceis.uk and the link will be shared with you.
4. Why isn’t the survey being shared via social media ?
This is to avoid contaminating the sample data of responders. Please do not share the link on social media or on any other public forum.
5. Is my survey response traceable to me ?
All responses collected are anonymous and aggregated so they cannot be traced back to an individual.
6. Who are YouGov ?
YouGov is an international online research data and analytics technology group. The research will be conducted in line with YouGov’s internal quality guidelines as well as in accordance with the Market Research Society (MRS) guidelines. It holds ISO27001 for Information Security management and is fully compliant with external regulations such as GDPR.
7. How do we get the results of the survey ?
The survey results will be published via a report which will be made available later on in the year.
8. Can we access the survey on our phones and desktop ?
Yes, you can.
9 Can we access the survey on any internet browser ?
Yes, you can.
10. How long is the survey open for ?
The survey will be open for 6 weeks from the date it launches. Then it will close and you will not be able to complete and submit your responses even if you have a session open.
Background
Research shows that discrimination has a profoundly negative impact on work-life quality as well as the health and well-being of affected individuals. In the health sector, the adverse effects of such experiences impact on patient care and patient experience.
The Royal College of Surgeons of England report on Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (ED&I) in surgery, published in November 2021, is one of the most informative documents of this subject in recent times. Participants in a survey, the results of which generated the report, shared experiences of gender, racial and other forms of discrimination. While it makes for uncomfortable reading, it has proved invaluable in drawing much needed attention to the inequalities faced by surgeons in the workplace.
There have also been a number of reports published within the last few years demonstrating differential attainment and workforce discrimination across medicine. The Medical WRES (MWRES), the gender pay gap report and the Surash-Pearce Report have all highlighted both gender and racial differences in career progression and pay. Furthermore, reports on the experiences of sexual harassment and assault in surgery have been an eye opener to the darker aspects of behaviours in the workplace. These juxtaposing views of lived experience, the idealised narrative of the surgical profession and the paucity of granular data on these matters have generated the impetus to explore the delivery of several deep-dive surveys at a national level within various surgical specialities. Our maiden project is being undertaken in the specific arena of Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat) Surgery with a view to reiterating it in other surgical specialities in collaboration with our partners. This survey will include all medical grades, with particular attention to discrimination, harrassment, diversity and inclusivity. It will be delivered via a third party polling entity to ensure anonymity. A further aspect will involve an opportunity for members of the surgical specialty to give personal accounts (should they wish) in a confidential and sensitive environment.
Rationale
Commissioning surveys such as this is vital and illustrates that the surgical profession is making every effort to be anti-discriminatory in its actions, thereby distancing itself from any form of ‘by-stander allyship’. The information collated from this effort will provide a robust dataset to inform individuals, professional groups and employment organisations. The predicted benefits arising from this work include:
● Addressing selection bias in leadership
● Promoting equity of mentorship and sponsorship opportunities in the workplace
● Supporting the case to develop and enable access to financial aid and endowments
● Identifying the needs for dedicated dispute resolution / mediation resource
● Underpin the development of pro-active governance protocols to mitigate and address discrimination, harassment and criminal behaviour in the workplace
● Foster other collaborative opportunities that facilitate equality and equity within the specialties.
Objectives
i. To report on the barriers to career progression within Otolaryngology. This will be broken down into three main areas
● Recruitment and retention
● Consultant specific career development and progression
● Non-Consultant grade career development and progression
ii. To report on the incidence of bullying and undermining within Otolaryngology on a national scale
iii. To report on the incidence of sexual abuse and sexual harassment within Otolaryngology on a national scale
iv. To document lived experiences of doctors in Otolaryngology with a view to exploring themes on:
● Bias in the workplace
● Systematic exclusion
● Attitudes to leadership
v. To stratify responses by race, gender, sexual orientation, training grade, socio-economic class, employment status (full time vs less than full time), disability, neurodiversity.
Impact
Raising awareness of the presence/ rates/ incidence of discrimination within the Otolaryngological community:
This highlights “at-risk” groups, indicate prevalent behaviour, identify micro-aggression, and define opportunities to report and redress these issues in the clinical space. Also, to indicate and celebrate what we may be doing well as a specialty
Standard setting: Exemplifying the standards of ED & I and denouncing all forms of discrimination. This data will serve as a call to various professional organisations with an Otolaryngology related agenda to develop strategies that promote anti-discriminatory behaviour by their membership. We envisage the ability to benchmark acceptable practices and behaviours across surgical specialties
Providing resources: This may take the form of educational content (on ED&I), whether didactic or procedural, being made available to the members of the profession; potential to develop a reporting and mediation tool in collaboration with professional organisations and the Royal Colleges
Developing a survey template: A standard survey template that will be applicable across all surgical disciplines to facilitate the exploration of the ED&I agenda in most workplaces
Bibliography
The Royal College of Surgeons of England. March 2021 An independent review on diversity and inclusion.
Available from: https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/about-the-rcs/about-our-mission/diversity-review-2021
Date published: March 2021
Date accessed: 10 November 2021
Mend the gap: The Independent Review into Gender Pay Gaps in Medicine in England
Available from:
Date published: 15 December 2020
Date accessed: 10 November 2021
NHS Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard (MWRES) 2020 data analysis report for the NHS medical workforce. Version number: 1
Available from: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/MWRES-DIGITAL-2020_FINAL.pdf
Date published: July 2021
Date accessed: 10 November 2021
The Surash-Pearce report. A comprehensive review into ethnic pay-gap and workforce development at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Available from: https://citou.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Surash-Pearce-Report-2019_low_res.pdf
Date published: October 2019
Date accessed: 10 November 2021
Fleming S, Fisher RA. Sexual assault in surgery: a painful truth. Bull R Coll Surg Engl 2021; 103: 283-285.
