Resource Library: Health and Wellbeing

The intention of the duty of candour legislation is to ensure that providers are open and transparent with people who use services. It sets out some specific requirements providers must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment, including informing people about the incident, providing reasonable support, providing truthful information and an apology when things go wrong.

Duty of candour - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This page offers guidance for health and wellbeing leads on how to measure feedback from strategies and initiatives.

NHS organisations offer a range of staff health and wellbeing initiatives, but how do you demonstrate whether they have created the intended impact?

Evaluating your health and wellbeing programme | NHS Employers

This page details evidence-based approaches to workforce wellbeing and provides a useful basis for reviewing your approach.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving the wellbeing of your workforce, the evidence base on the most effective initiatives and approaches is constantly evolving and can provide a useful basis for reviewing your approach and making decisions as we know how important it is to retain our valued NHS workforce. 

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and the NHS People Promise explore how having a positive staff experience and a rounded support offer are vital to encouraging staff to remain in the workplace. The information provided below can support you in making informed choices to look after our NHS colleagues.

Evidence-based approaches to workforce wellbeing | NHS Employers

The new guide emphasises the increasing importance of employee financial wellbeing, particularly during the cost of living crisis.

Financial wellbeing guide calls for strategic employee support | NHS Employers

60 min mental health awareness course

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The wellbeing of staff is affected by work-related factors including workload, autonomy, relationships, team support and the working environment.

The NHS People Plan asks that all NHS staff have a health and wellbeing conversation, and are supported to develop a personalised wellbeing plan, from September 2020.

Furthermore, the Long Term Workforce Plan has emphasised the importance of retaining our valued NHS workforce. Employers should be looking at their wellbeing offer and critically evaluating the experience of staff through all stages of their careers. A positive staff experience and a rounded support offer are vital to encouraging staff to remain in the workplace.

Here are some ideas for things you might consider to ensure that quality health and wellbeing conversations and plans that best meet the needs of our diverse workforce are embedded within your organisation.

NHS England has previously delivered a national training programme for line managers aimed at supporting colleagues in having safe and effective wellbeing conversations. This programme has now ended and has been evaluated to understand how managers have used the training to support their teams. Although this training is now closed, there are many other support options available here. 

Health and wellbeing conversations | NHS Employers

A summary of the Society of Occupational Medicine's report on effective interventions to support staff wellbeing in the NHS.

Health and wellbeing interventions for staff: report summary | NHS Employers

The NHS People Plan and the NHS People Promise outlines a number of key programmes that are in place to assist organisations to develop culture of wellbeing, in which their workforce feel supported and well at work.

These key priorities are outlined below, you can click on each link to read more about that specific programme.

NHS England » Health and wellbeing programmes

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) stated in its research that 'middle managers have really come out as the squeezed middle'. With increasing workforce pressures and demands on NHS staff, it's vital that managers are effectively supported in the workplace.

Health and wellbeing top tips for supporting line managers | NHS Employers

Our emotional wellbeing toolkit explains the contributors to decreased emotional wellbeing and shows you how to encourage improvements.

It’s easier to recognise someone’s physical wellbeing than their emotional wellbeing. We also find it much easier to engage in conversations about physical health, but often find talking about emotional wellbeing to be more of a challenge.

How are you feeling NHS? toolkit | NHS Employers

Visit Downloadable Resources page for traffic-light signposting posters

Now We’re Talking gives tailored signposting advice around a variety of mental health issues.

Visit our Acting Together to Prevent Suicide campaign page for online suicide prevention resources including a step by step guide to helping someone in crisis.

Talk Community from Herefordshire Council has a list of additional local services available for Herefordshire around mental health and suicide prevention.

A new short film explores the impact and support needs of NHS staff who have lost a colleague to suicide.

New film provides insight on impact of colleague suicide | NHS Employers

Our NHS is made up of more than 1.3 million people who care for the people of this country with skill, compassion and dedication. We must make the NHS an employer of excellence – valuing, supporting, developing and investing in our colleagues.

Retaining and supporting our people is a key priority across the NHS as outlined in the People Plan and the NHS Long Term Plan.

Ensuring that our NHS people feel valued and have the opportunity to develop in their career is crucial to retention. Staff should have access to support, development and opportunities and be encouraged to achieve their individual ambitions in the workplace.

NHS England » Looking After Our People – Retention hub

A healthy team leads to a great experience for all your team members, and ultimately better care for our patients. This guide is designed to help you and your team explore what being part of a healthy team means for you, and to embark on a collaborative journey where you are ‘in the driving seat’ to improve things, together.

NHS England » Looking after your team’s health and wellbeing guide

The NHS workforce is over 1.3 million strong and 76.5% of the workforce (over 1 million) are women.  Women between the ages of 45 and 54 who are likely to be going through the menopause transition make up 1 in 5 of the entire NHS workforce, over 260,000 women. The vision of the NHS Menopause Programme is to create a supportive working environment that champions the wellbeing of women and others affected by the menopause transition, so they stay and thrive in the workplace whist going through the menopause.

The menopause at work: A guide for people professionals | CIPD

Tools and resources to help you make positive improvements to mental wellbeing in the workplace.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mental health as a state of mental wellbeing that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well, work well and contribute to their community. Fluctuations in mental health during our lives is normal, and recovery from mental ill health is more likely when people receive the right help at the right time. According to NHS Digital, mental ill health accounts for over 20 per cent of sickness absence in the NHS. 

The British Medical Association (BMA) states 9 out of 10 people who experience mental health problems say they face stigma and discrimination as a result. NHS trusts should have supportive initiatives in place to ensure staff mental wellbeing in the workplace, and to maintain the quality of patient care.

Mental health in the workplace | NHS Employers

How connected we are to nature plays a critical role in our physical and mental health and wellbeing; dozens of studies show that connecting with nature helps people feel good and function well. It’s important to note that connecting to nature can be simple, everyday gestures that can happen in towns and cities, as well as rural places. Simply noticing one good thing in nature, like the clouds passing or birds chirping, each day for a week brings sustained and clinically significant improvements in mental health. By encouraging more people to connect with nature, through activities like community gardening, nature walks, cold water swimming, crafting in nature and far more, we can bring about real positive changes to their lives and the future of the environment.

Follow this link for further information

Nature and Wellbeing

An excellent occupational health (OH) service for staff can help the NHS be more productive, reduce sickness absence, improve retention and save money. For OH to have the greatest impact on an organisation it should work in partnership with key stakeholders including human resources, health and safety, infection prevention and control, and, more crucially, managers. Managers need to be aware of what services OH provides and feel able to approach these services for support and advice when needed.

Occupational health for NHS staff | NHS Employers

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Group (HSWG) is a sub-group of the NHS Staff Council. It is a tripartite group involving staff side representatives from healthcare unions, management side representatives from NHS organisations and specialist members, such as the Health and Safety Executive, and the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health with a remit to do the following:

• to raise standards of workplace health, safety, and wellbeing in healthcare organisations
• to promote a safer working environment for all healthcare staff
• to promote best practice across both the NHS and the Independent sector.

Promoting health and wellbeing and attendance at work | NHS Employers

Learn how Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust created a rapid-access mental health service to support its staff.

The mental health and wellbeing of healthcare workers was a concern for the NHS long before COVID-19. But the pandemic led to a dramatic increase in requests for mental health support for staff, while having a detrimental effect on those with pre-existing mental health conditions.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) set up a new service providing rapid access to multidisciplinary mental health support for all staff within the five trusts across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Providing rapid-access mental health services for NHS staff | NHS Employers

This updated guidance is aimed at managers and employees at all levels within the organisation to support colleagues experiencing stress.

There is increasing evidence that work-related stress is on the rise. This has been identified through various studies and surveys. For example:

• In 2020, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that over two fifths of public sector organisations reported that stress-related absence (most commonly caused by heavy workloads) had increased over the last 12 months. With 70 per cent, stating it is the most common cause of long-term absence.
• The 2020 Labour Force Survey found rates of work-related ill-health due to stress in the health sector is statistically significantly higher than that for workers across all industries (HSE 2020).
• The annual NHS Staff Survey (2020) reported that 44 per cent of staff reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress in the last 12 months, a steady increase from 36.8 per cent in 2016.  Increases were sharpest in acute/acute and community trusts and acute specialist trusts.
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publication Work-related Stress, Anxiety or Depression Statistics in Great Britain, 2020 identified that figures for stress, depression or anxiety in 2019/20 was statistically significantly higher than the previous period. 

Prevention and management of stress at work | NHS Employers

A new report from the Society of Occupational Medicine looks at the most effective actions organisations can take to support staff wellbeing.

Report findings on health and wellbeing interventions for staff | NHS Employers

The Public Health Team at Worcestershire County Council commissioned Thinks Insight and Strategy to conduct research to help shape support for health and care professionals.

The innovative ethnographic methods captures insights of the lives of participants throughout the pandemic working within the county in a range of roles, including front-line acute settings, primary care and voluntary and community services.

Have you, or a loved one, been diagnosed with a serious, progressive illness? Are you looking for advice, support and the chance to ask questions in a friendly, informal setting? Pop along to our Wellbeing Café in The Green at St Richard’s Hospice every Wednesday between 10.30am and 3pm.
You don’t need a referral from a health professional to attend the café, where you can access:

• Expert advice from staff and Living Well volunteers

• One-to-one guidance

• The opportunity to meet others and share experiences

• Signposting to services in the community or at St Richard’s

• A break with a free cuppa or chance to buy delicious refreshments

St Richard's Hospice (strichards.org.uk)

• The Hub: https://www.hwstaffhub.nhs.uk/
• Now We’re Talking (tools to help your own mental wellbeing or get further support)
• The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Recovery College
• Debriefing services available: Samaritans – 116 123 (24 hours)
• HOPELINE UK – 0800 068 41 41 (9am to midnight)

Those who work, train and learn within the healthcare system have the right to be safe and feel supported at work.

Organisations across the healthcare system need to work together and individually to tackle unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviour in the workplace.

We all have a responsibility to ourselves and our colleagues and must act if we witness these behaviours.

NHS England » Sexual safety in healthcare – organisational charter

Staff Experience Network - Midlands - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform

In order to view this you will need a NHS Futures account (Click Here to register)

Stay Well This Winter - Midlands - Staff Experience Network - Midlands - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform

In order to view this you will need a NHS Futures account (Click Here to register)

Listen to the webinar delivered by the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Partnership Group (HSWPG), to hear about their new, and soon to be released, stress document that provides guidance for NHS provider organisations.

The webinar aptly took place during international stress awareness week, where we were joined by  Peter Kelly, senior psychologist, from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who discussed work-related stress and HSE’s talking toolkits. There was also time for questions and answers during the webinar.

Stress and the impact in the workplace | NHS Employers

Free online training to help you help others

• Zero Suicide Alliance

  20 minute suicide awareness training

  Gain skills and confidence to help someone who may be considering suicide.

• Real Talk Interactive Film

   30 minute interactive film    

   Guides the viewer as they make choices to support someone with suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

• We Need to Talk about Suicide

   60-90 minute training developed by Health Education England. 

   Purpose = reduce stigma re: suicide, help everyone see that asking someone how they are and talking about suicide can really help

We know that our NHS people are often faced with significant stresses. The NHS can only achieve the extraordinary things for patients that it does if the safety, health and wellbeing of our people is recognised as a key priority.

If you need someone to talk to, we have introduced a confidential text support service, you can access support by texting FRONTLINE to 85258 for support 24/7.  This service is available to all our NHS colleagues who have had a tough day, who are feeling worried or overwhelmed, or who have a lot on their mind and need to talk it through.

NHS England » Support available for our NHS people

The NHS achieves extraordinary things for patients, but this is only possible if the safety, health and wellbeing of our people is recognised as a key priority. If we don’t look after ourselves and our colleagues, we cannot deliver safe, high quality patient care.

The pandemic has had a significant physical, mental and psychological impact on our people – and this will continue for some time to come. It has never been more important for all our NHS people to take time to look after their own health and wellbeing. Our varied support offers are here to stay, and they will remain here for you to access when needed and support you on your wellbeing journey, or to seek further help at the point at which it is needed. Leaders, teams and employers are encouraged to offer their colleagues support to stay well at work, and to keep offering it consistently – across teams, organisations and sectors, in order to sustain the ability to care for patients, long term.

NHS England » Supporting our NHS people

Developed with our health and wellbeing leads, this page provides information to help you support people experiencing stress.

Stress is something that everyone feels at times. Work-related stress is defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as 'the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them’. It is more prevalent in public service occupations, such as health and social care.

Supporting our NHS people experiencing stress | NHS Employers

A toolkit specifically for NHS service providers has been launched by the Health and Safety Executive with the aim of reducing work-related stress.

The Talking Toolkit focuses on how managers can start and conduct a range of conversations covering issues of demands, control, support, relationships, role, and change.

Designed to be used in conjunction with an organisation’s overall wellbeing approach, it also includes:

• top tips for managers when holding work-related stress-based conversations
• conversation templates
• sign posting to further support and information.

There are separate pdf toolkits for England, Scotland and Wales

Talking Toolkit aims to reduce work stress | NHS Employers

Find out how to create a psychologically safe workplace that improves staff experience and wellbeing.

Top tips for supporting the psychological safety of staff | NHS Employers

We have updated five of our popular infographics to help you demonstrate the importance of looking after our NHS people.

NHS Employers and the NHS Staff Council’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Group (HSWG) have updated the following infographics which highlight key facts and statistics that show the importance of supporting employees:

• Mental wellbeing in the workplace - Provides a range of up-to-date key statistics and facts about workforce mental wellbeing in the workplace. 
• Back to basics for a healthy working environment - Includes statistics and key facts about the impact of hydration, nutrition, sleep, and regular breaks on workforce wellbeing. 
• Tackling bullying in the NHS - Developed by HSWG, it includes statistics about the impact of bullying on workforce wellbeing. 
• Shift work in healthcare - Also developed by HSWG, this infographic highlights the importance of supporting shift workers in your organisation.  
• What is financial wellbeing? - Demonstrates the value of good financial health for both the organisation and the individual.

Updated health and wellbeing infographics | NHS Employers

Sir Robert Francis wrote the The Freedom to Speak Up Report following the inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust where he identified that workers who had spoken up had been ignored or victimised as a result. As a practising GP I am fully aware of the concerns that workers have about speaking up and this is why I am certain that the culture needs to improve. Workers are best placed to see what gets in the way of delivering great care to patients and service users and need to be able to speak up in order that the required changes are made. 

The current culture does not support all workers to raise concerns and this is seen in staff surveys across the NHS which show that upwards of 20% of staff report bullying and harassment. Workers may also lack the confidence to raise concerns or do not believe that the investigation process will be fair. 

The evidence shows that staff experience is linked to patient experience and that when staff are engaged patient mortality decreases. In order to foster a culture of openness and transparency organisations need to show that they are genuinely interested in feedback from workers and patients and that this feedback is acted upon to improve patient care and staff experience. As governors you are in a particularly strong position to help the culture change we need for these benefits to occur

Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.pdf (nhsproviders.org)