Who cares for the NHS?

Summary:

A report from Health Education England proposes a national framework, led by board-level Workplace Wellbeing Guardians, to support the mental health of NHS staff, trainees and students. But will the government implement its recommendations in full?

The report of Health Education England’s (HEE’s) NHS Staff and Learners’ Mental Wellbeing Commission (see pp.4–5) is outstanding¹. It makes sound recommendations to support the mental health not only of NHS staff, but also of trainees and students. It underlined – in case anyone didn’t appreciate it – that you can’t solve a workforce crisis by tacking on some wellbeing, mindfulness and resilience training. Or as one worker said: ‘You can’t yoga your way out of bad management and poor rota design. Similarly, training people to be resilient in a system that is failing is not a way of solving the problem.’ The  government’s response will be crucial, so let’s hope past inertia is no predictor of future performance…

 

Dr John Ballard, editor Occupational Health [at Work]

Author: Ballard J

Tags boorman review mental health NHS sickness absence wellbeing

Occupational Health at Work April/May 2019 (vol. 15/6) pp3

Download full article