Norfolk's largest hospital has the lowest staff morale of any in the country, a new survey has found.
Results from the annual NHS staff survey have shown that the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has the worst nationwide rating.
According to the study, fewer than half the staff would feel happy for a loved one to receive care there.
The report also shows that more than four in 10 workers are considering leaving the hospital and less than 20pc feel there is enough staff working there to do their jobs properly.
More than 4,500 people at the hospital completed the survey, just over half of the workforce.
Bosses at the Colney site say the findings reflect the pressures in the NHS, with large numbers of vacancies, challenges in the care sector and high demand for services.
However, they were not able to say why morale was worse there than at other acute hospitals operating under similar circumstances.
Sam Higginson, chief executive of NNUH, said: "Our NHS staff survey results reflect the continued and sustained pressure we face across our trust and I want to thank all our staff for their dedication and hard work.
"We recognise we have more work to do to improve staff experience and the actions we have already launched will take longer to embed throughout our organisation.
"We are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and we’re putting a lot of work in across the trust, as well as with our system partners, to improve flow and discharge to reduce the pressure on our inpatient wards and emergency areas.
"We are making progress on recruitment and reducing our vacancy rate as well as investing in staff facilities, the opportunity for more colleagues to work flexibly and a strong focus on wellbeing as part of our NNUH People Promise.”
The results score the hospital's morale rating out of 10 is 5.2.
Things are not much better at the region's other hospitals, with the James Paget in Gorleston and the Queen Elizabeth in King's Lynn scoring 5.5 - against a national average of 5.7.
Alarmingly for the NNUH, fewer than half of its workers - 47.3pc - said they would feel happy for a loved one to receive the level of care it can offer.
In 2018, this figure was considerably higher, with three-quarters of staff members feeling this way.
However, the number has been in steady decline over the past five years.
It also showed that fewer than one in five workers were happy with their pay - which has been highlighted by widespread strikes in the NHS.
Jane O'Brien, senior officer of the Royal College of Nursing in Norfolk said: "We know that morale among nursing staff is severely affected when they feel they are not able to provide the levels of care they want for their patients due to a lack of staff.
"We know from speaking to our members across our region that many feel frustrated that they can not give patients the safe and effective care they would want to be providing."
The survey's findings have sparked fears from Healthwatch Norfolk, which represents the views of patients in the region.
John Bultitude, head of communications for Healthwatch Norfolk, said: "It is disappointed to hear staff feel there is more work to do in the Norfolk and Norwich.
"We know people working across health are under pressure and the survey data shows the NNUH team feel they need more support.
"From a patient perspective, low morale can mean staff ultimately choose to leave their profession and this means even more pressure on those left, which can mean longer waits for some people to get the care they need."
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