Speaking on the Prevention is the new cure podcast with former Conservative ministers Steve Brine and Lord James Bethell, Sir Jim said: ‘As colleagues rightly keep reminding me, the rest of the workforce have lots of things that they've had to tolerate for a long time [as well]. I don't think it's about more numbers [of staff].

‘I think a lot of it is environmental friction [such as] the food, the parking, whether you can safely park your bike without it getting stolen, whether you're in a ward where there's a leak through the roof.'

He said he wanted to ‘elevate staff experience' in the way the service is planning to with patient experience.

Sir Jim added: ‘But we [should also] expect things in return. We need people to perform well, we need people to perform to decent standards consistently.'