Programme example
A year of listening at Meridian Health Group
The organisation
Meridian Health Group is a UK private healthcare provider: about 7,500 colleagues across 12 hospitals, 45 clinics and corporate functions. In the past year it acquired Parkview Medical, CareFirst Clinics and Wellspring Health, 1,200 colleagues who are still three cultures. Voluntary turnover is 22%, and 28% in nursing. Agency staff cover 18% of shifts. The 2024 survey ran in SurveyMonkey: 35 items, 52% answered, results eight weeks after close, and no action planning behind them. Meridian is the organisation in Pindrop’s demonstration workspace. The workspace carries a 275-person slice of it: 250 completed the 2025 survey, fielded 13 January to 7 February.
The constraint
Union consultation is required before any new data collection. The Joint Staff Committee meets monthly and sees the instrument first. The Caldicott Guardian signs off any cut of patient-facing roles, and processing stays in the UK. Half the workforce is on wards, in theatres or in clinics with little screen time, and four in ten have no named inbox. Winter pressures constrain the survey window. The Executive Board will carry three organisation-level commitments this year; site plans sit with site directors and are capped at three actions each. The Group Chief Executive will not fund framing that implies the acquired practices failed, patient-identifiable workforce data without Caldicott sign-off, or industrial-action language in anything sent to colleagues.
Naming a survey tool elsewhere on this site is an example, not a partnership.
Who
Our people who understand what matters.
What
The things that matter and those that don't.
When
When leaders hear what matters and how we can get better as a result.
What the Executive Board hears in February
The survey closes on 7 February. Within two weeks the Executive Board has one page. Who was heard. What the year will not say. The three commitments, each with a named owner.
The February board meeting
- WhoThe Group Chief Executive and the Executive Board. The Chief People Officer and the Head of People Insight are in the room. Legacy-entity results have been read by the Chief People Officer first.
- WhatNothing framed as acquired-practice failure. No cut of patient-facing roles without Caldicott sign-off. No team score where fewer than five answered. No fourth commitment.
- What the page may sayThree priority areas from the survey, each with a named owner and a date: manager effectiveness, career development, cross-team collaboration. The March pulse re-asks seven of the survey’s items so the Board can see whether anything moved.
Three decisions
1. Three commitments, not a dashboard
The Board’s capacity this year is three organisation-level commitments: nurse retention, culture integration, CQC evidence. Every question in the year has to serve one of them or it is not asked. Site plans belong to site directors, three actions each, and do not count against the three.
2. One Meridian, heard through the same channels
The 1,200 colleagues who joined through Parkview, CareFirst and Wellspring answer the same survey as everyone else, plus a monthly Integration Pulse for the year. Nothing is framed as acquired-practice failure. The Chief People Officer reads legacy-entity results before they go wider. The test is a belonging gap that closes, not a league table of practices.
3. Say what changed before you ask again
In 2024 results came eight weeks after close and nothing followed. This year results reach every colleague within two weeks of close, action plans are due within four, progress is reviewed monthly, and You said, we did goes to every site each quarter. Each pulse re-asks seven of the survey’s items, so the Board can see whether anything moved.
The annual listening programme
| Channel | When | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|
| Colleague Experience Survey 2025 Head of People Insight Colleague Experience Survey 2025 is in week 3 of the calendar year | 13 January to 7 February, all colleagues | Run in Pindrop. 13 scored dimensions, about ten minutes, on a phone. Protected completion time on wards and in theatres. |
| Integration Pulse Head of People Insight | Monthly, January to December, the 1,200 colleagues from the acquired practices | Run in Pindrop. Under three minutes. Legacy-entity results read by the Chief People Officer first. |
| Quarterly Pulse Head of People Insight | March, May, August and November, all colleagues | Run in Pindrop. Ten items: seven carried from the survey on the three priority areas, three new. Under three minutes. |
| Manager Effectiveness 360 Head of People Insight Manager Effectiveness 360 is in week 25 of the calendar year | June, all 680 line managers | Development planning, not appraisal. Team results only where five or more answered. |
| New starter check-in Head of People Insight | Day 30 and day 90, rolling | Short Pindrop questionnaire, email or mobile link |
| Exit survey Head of People Insight | As they leave, all voluntary leavers | Short Pindrop questionnaire. Nursing turnover is 28%; the themes feed the retention commitment. |
- Jan — Colleague Experience Survey opens on 13 January. 13 scored dimensions, about ten minutes, on a phone, with protected completion time on wards and in theatres. The Joint Staff Committee saw it first; the Caldicott Guardian signed off the clinical-role cuts. Three organisation-level commitments, named now. Integration Pulse begins, monthly.
- Feb — Survey closes on 7 February. Results to every colleague within two weeks. The Executive Board hears it: three priority areas, manager effectiveness, career development and cross-team collaboration, each with a named owner. Site reports within three weeks.
- Mar — Action plans due within four weeks of close. Three actions per site, owned by site directors. The organisation-level plan: a manager feedback skills programme, published career pathways for nursing, allied health and medical staff, and three cross-divisional task forces. First pulse of the year: ten items, seven carried from the survey.
- Apr — You said, we did, to every site. The first since the survey. If it cannot be written, the May pulse has nothing to measure.
- May — Pulse. Under three minutes. The Board’s quarterly summary follows.
- Jun — Manager Effectiveness 360 for 680 line managers. Development planning, not appraisal. Team results only where five or more answered.
- Jul — Quiet. No new questions; the Integration Pulse continues. Progress reviewed monthly. You said, we did, the second.
- Aug — Pulse. The same seven items again, so the trend holds.
- Sep — Quiet. Read the year so far for the Board’s quarterly summary: the survey, three pulses, the Integration Pulse to date, and the exit survey themes.
- Oct — Agree the 2026 year. Design the 2026 survey with as few changes as the trend can bear; the Joint Staff Committee sees it. You said, we did, the third.
- Nov — Pulse. Winter pressures: it stays under three minutes, and nothing new is added.
- Dec — Final Integration Pulse. Decide whether the belonging gap between legacy and acquired colleagues has closed, and whether the pulse earns a second year. Review the year of listening.
What
The things that matter and those that don't.
- Anything framed as the acquired practices failing.
- A cut of patient-facing roles without the Caldicott Guardian’s sign-off.
- Industrial-action language in anything sent to colleagues.
- A 35-item survey reported eight weeks after close with no action behind it.
- A team score where fewer than five colleagues answered.
- A fourth organisation-level commitment.
- Any link to patient data or to performance management.
90-minute workshop
15 min · What 2024 delivered
35 items, 52% answered, eight weeks to results, nothing visible after. The room agrees what colleagues were promised before it designs anything.
25 min · Three commitments
Nurse retention, culture integration, CQC evidence. Every proposed question has to serve one. The will-not list is written first: no acquired-practice failure framing, no patient-identifiable data without Caldicott sign-off, no industrial-action language.
30 min · The year on one wall
Six channels, month by month, fielding owner on each. Winter pressures and the survey window. If a seventh channel appears, one comes off.
20 min · When the Board hears it
Two weeks after close. Who is in the room, what the pack may say about Parkview, CareFirst and Wellspring, and the dates for the March pulse and the April note. Agree the year of listening, or stop.