Health, Work & Well-Being

The Department of Health (DH) funded a project to reduce sickness absence caused by common mental health issues amongst staff in mental health trusts.The overall aim of the project was to improve the mental wellbeing of NHS staff employed in five trusts in the North of England, through implementation of primary and secondary level interventions; identified through the development and delivery of a mental wellbeing needs assessment.

There has been a significant increase in the size of the NHS workforce at Central Manchester Foundation Trust (CMFT) over recent years, and a subsequent increase in demand for individual counselling and psychology sessions. As a result the time spent waiting for an appointment has also increased for staff. As one response to this situation, the Staff Support Service at CMFT undertook a pilot project to deliver guided computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT), with facilitated support, to individuals with anxiety and/or depression.

An internal, formal mediation scheme was set up in January 2014 within Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust. Mediation within the Trust is a voluntary process that supports people in resolving workplace disagreements in a way that is fair and agreed by both parties. The mediator works with people to help them find a solution and reach an agreement about how best to proceed to tackle the situation.

If you happen to be in a park at 9am on a Saturday morning, you may well encounter a parkrun. parkrun (always one lower-case word!) is a free, weekly, timed 5K run – not, it is stressed, a race – open to all. The parkrun message is that ‘parkrun is for everyone’; locally driven, and as much about friendship, community and supporting sustainable lifestyle change as it is about running. In addition, a recent research study has concluded that parkrun may be a cost-effective way to improve public health, with evidence that it can improve participants’ physical and mental wellbeing.

The Global Corporate Challenge (GCC) is a programme developed over a decade ago by Gettheworldmoving to improve the health and productivity of employees around the world.In that time the programme has transformed the cultures of thousands of the world’s leading organisations, including many NHS trusts, and has changed the lives of over a million employees across 158 countries.GCC optimises organisations’ most valuable/expensive asset - their human capital - and ensures that employees arrive each day in the right physical and mental shape so that they are fully engaged.

The NHS Constitution enshrines for patients and staff alike “the right to be treated with dignity and respect, in accordance with your human rights”. In order to help the NHS achieve this, a set of values have been developed by patients, staff and the public to inspire passion in the NHS and to guide it into the 21st Century.These values and behaviours provide common ground for co-operation, to enable the achievement of shared aspirations; yet individual organisations are also expected to develop and refresh their own values, so that theyare tailored to meet local needs. 

The NHS faces a huge challenge to reduce its sickness absence rate to an average of 3.4% throughout the year 2013/14. All NHS organisations have a part to play in helping to achieve this goal and each Trust needs to develop a clear focus on staff health and well-being, as outlined in the Department of Health’s NHS Health and Well-Being Improvement Framework.This hot topic is the final in a series of five documents, linked to the high impact changes.Healthier staff deliver better care to patients and are more productive.

The NHS faces a huge challenge to reduce its sickness absence rate to an average of 3.4% over the year 2013/14 and all NHS organisations have a part to play to help meet this.

This hot topic is the third of a series of five documents, linked to the high impact changes. This Hot Topic specifically looks at the skills and competencies needed by line managers to improve wellbeing, as managers are critical in maintaining employee health.More in the series   

Following on from the Hot Topic Sickness Absence Reporting Methodologies: Reporting the QIPP Challenge, it is now an ideal time to look at how organisations can reduce sickness absence rates through managing staff health and well-being.The NHS faces a huge challenge to reduce its sickness absence rate to an average of 3.4% over the year 2013/14 and all NHS organisations have a part to play to help meet this.More in the series       Strong visible leadership    Local evidence-based improvement plans    Supported by improved management capability    Access to better, local high quality accred