HEALTH bosses are looking to turn to technology to boost staff morale.

Managers at the Southend Clinical Commissioning group may soon introduce an app to staff which they can use to register how they are feeling at different times during their shifts.

Data, provided through an anonymous staff survey, has prompted bosses to look into ways of making life better for staff.

The Southend group has already booked two “picnic in the park days” following the staff survey which included negative feedback.

A report by the group said: “There are some positive results within the summary but unfortunately also a number of negatives.

“This is being taken seriously and we are working with the staff involvement group to try to find out what sits behind the negative feedback.

“Discussion was had around the difficulty pinpointing some of the problems due to the survey being anonymous.”

It adds: “There is an app which we are thinking of rolling out across the organisation that staff could click on to rate how they are feeling at that point in time, this could be useful as a thermometer for staff morale.

“We have also arranged two dates for a picnic in the park for staff and are asking the staff involvement group to think about what else we could do.”

It comes as South and Mid Essex Hospitals look to merge and streamline future local healthcare – the five clinical commissioning groups are set to do the same.

There is little detail available yet on what the merger of the groups is likely to mean for staff, but for the hospitals it has included streamlining finance and admin operations to one base in Southend.

Similar cost saving schemes are likely for the clinical commissioning groups, with some fearing job losses.

Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group has said redundancies would be a “last resort” but it has admitted some were “likely” and initially these will be among some senior staff members.

The Southend group said: “The continuing organisational changes could possibly be affecting staff and we need to ensure that we put support mechanisms in place.

“The importance of consistency and good communication is also reiterated.”