NHS expands mental health support for staff after toughest year in health service history

 The NHS is supporting staff who have pushed their minds and bodies to the limit over the last year to look after their mental health, as 40 dedicated support hubs are set to open across the country.

Read NHS England news piece here

Supporting The Mental Health Of NHS Staff: The Role Of NHS Leaders In Reducing Mental Health Stigma And Creating Mentally Healthy Cultures

 This guide, funded by the British Medical Association and posted on the Mental Health at Work website, aims to provide practical advice, hints and tips to help NHS leaders and line managers to create mentally healthy cultures and support better mental health. It includes information about mental health stigmas, and how to break them down. 

Read guide here

Mental health of ICU staff should be immediate priority, new study shows

 Mental health of ICU staff should be immediate priority, new study shows.

Read ScienceDaily article here

Read full text article here

Creating space for compassion, empathy and learning

 Click here to access King's Fund site

How putting NHS staff first is making hospitals better

Yoga, pilates and Dragons’ Den-style contests are among a host of innovations that are turning around failing trusts. Click here to read newspaper article and link to report

Healthcare professionals issue consensus statement on the importance of health and wellbeing in work

The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) along with the Allied Health Professions Federation, Royal College of Nursing and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges have launched a consensus statement that outlines how healthcare professionals should promote the benefits of good work and help support workers to look after their own health and wellbeing. Click here to read news piece

Gratitude in Workplace Can Hike Mental, Physical Health

Expressing gratitude at work is associated with better mental and physical health for everyone involved, according to a new study led by Portland State University in Oregon. Read PsychCentral article here

Assaults on north Wales NHS mental health staff halve

Attacks by mental health patients on NHS staff at Wales' largest health board have halved in five years. Read news item here

Mental health and wellbeing support for NHS staff: government pledges overhaul

Click here to see plan

Manager Support, Positive Attitude Aid in Return to Work After Sick Leave

Support from managers and coworkers, as well as a positive attitude, can help employees have a smoother return to work after an absence due to mental or physical health issues, according to a new review of research published in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. Click here to read PsychCentral

Mental health leaders welcome first NHS strategy to tackle violence against staff

Mental health leaders have welcomed the Government’s announcement of the first ever NHS strategy to tackle violence against staff, saying it has the potential to ‘turbocharge’ existing efforts across the country. Read NHS Confederation report here

Mental Health Professionals Share What It's Like Trying To Look After Their Own Mental Health

'No matter how well we try to look after our mental health, things happen in our personal lives.' Click here to read Huffington Post article

NHS Staff Survey 2017

NHS Staff Survey 2017


Approximately 1.1 million NHS employees in England were invited to participate in the 2017 NHS Staff Survey between September 2017 and November 2017. The response rate was 45 per cent. Summary of the results: 31 per cent of staff were satisfied with their level of pay; 68 per cent say their immediate manager takes an interest in their health and wellbeing; 58 per cent of staff worked additional unpaid hours; staff are reporting lower satisfaction with the quality of work and care they are able to deliver; 38 per cent of staff reported feeling unwell due to work related stress in the last 12 months; and 87 per cent of staff reported having an appraisal in the last 12 months.


See the national briefing: http://www.nhsstaffsurveys.com/Caches/Files/P3088_ST17_National%20briefing_v5.0.pdf


See the full survey results http://www.nhsstaffsurveys.com/Page/1064/Latest-Results/2017-Results/

The risks to care quality and staff wellbeing of an NHS system under pressure

This report, written by the Picker Institute, in conjunction with The King's Fund, considers the relationships between the self-reported experiences and wellbeing of NHS staff, measures of workforce pressures in the health system, and patients’ experiences of their care. It uncovers striking associations between NHS staff and patients’ experiences in hospitals and NHS trusts’ reliance on agency health care workers.

The nursing workforce

The Health Select Committee has published its nursing workforce inquiry.  This report highlights the importance of improving staff wellbeing and development to allow the NHS to retain the valuable experience and skills of its current nursing workforce.

Developing People - Improving Care: one year on

One year on from the launch of the Developing People- Improving Care, NHS Improvement highlights how leaders across health and social care have implemented the framework.

Workload and wellbeing quarterly survey

The BMA keeps track of doctors' workload and wellbeing with the BMA quarterly survey (formerly known as the omnibus or tracker survey).

Each quarter the survey focuses on topical issues as well covering questions on workload, morale and work-life balance, which are repeated every quarter.

Key findings from our most recent survey:

• 71% of hospital-based respondents reported rota gaps in the departments in which they work. This figures remains consistent.
• 65% of hospital speciality respondents reported that there are medical doctor vacancies in their departments, while 47% of GPs had GP vacancies in the practice where they work.
• 89% of respondents believe their contribution to the NHS was valued by patients and 62% believed it was valued by managers, but only 17% felt valued by the government and politicians.

CQC and guardians of safe working

Information on guardians of safe working and exception reporting will now be collated by The Care Quality Commission (CQC) as part of its well led domain of inspections.

The CQC has begun a soft rollout for this process, and some interviews on inspection have already been carried out. In the future, employers can expect to be asked for some of the following things in advance of their inspections:

• quarterly GoSW reports
• the trust’s quality account, including the annual report on rota gaps and the plan for improvement to reduce these gaps
• exception reports issued to the board by the GoSW regarding escalation of and serious issues unresolved.

Fatigue and sleep deprivation – the impact of different working patterns on doctors

This briefing from the British Medical Association highlights why doctors are at risk of fatigue and the acute and long-term impacts this can have. It also presents a framework for how Government, organisations and doctors themselves can manage this risk.

Good work, wellbeing and changes in performance outcomes: illustrating the effects of good people management practices with an analysis of the National Health Service

This report from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing illustrates the effect of good people management with an analysis of the NHS. It found Trusts that made the most extensive use of good people management practices were over three times more likely to have the lowest levels of staff sickness absence and at least four times more likely to have the most satisfied patients. They were also more than twice as likely to have staff with the highest levels of job satisfaction compared to NHS Trusts that made least use of these practices, and over three times more likely to have staff with the highest levels of engagement.