A safe, secure working environment
Health and wellbeing
The reported levels of sickness absence across the clinical support workforce in hospital and community services are high (8% in April 2020) compared with other staff groups such as scientific, therapeutic and technical workers (4%). (Nuffield Trust, 2021, pg. 37-38)
The NHS achieves extraordinary things for patients, but safety and health and wellbeing matter just as much for our people. If we don’t look after ourselves, and each other, we cannot deliver safe, high-quality care. COVID-19 has spurred the NHS on to put much greater focus on this, which we must continue and build on.
Why wellbeing conversations are important.
This video, from NHS England and NHS Improvement, shares personal experiences from across the NHS of staff who have benefited from wellbeing conversations with their line managers.
Supporting health and wellbeing in the workplace
The following resources provide guidance on how to support health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Emotional wellbeing toolkit
Emotional wellbeing toolkit explains the contributors to decreased emotional wellbeing and shows you how to encourage improvements.
Dealing with staff absences
These resources explore how to measure and manage absences, as well as help an employee when they return to work.
Mental Health and Race at Work
Research Report and Toolkit - Understand how people who are Black or from a Minority Ethnic background face particular challenges which may contribute to poor mental health. The City Mental Health Alliance has created resources that will increase the business community's understanding of this area, and provide evidence-based guidance for action, so that more businesses can build mentally healthy, diverse and inclusive workplaces for all of their people.
Stress and resilience framework
The stress and resilience framework helps organisations to support staff by taking time to explore what is impacting staff wellbeing. It shifts the thinking away from “how can we make staff more resilient?” to “what do organisations need to do to support their staff and reduce reliance on individual resilience?”.
Feeling valued
A significant majority of respondents (42%) to a survey by King's College London felt that their efforts were not fully recognised and a third did not feel valued members of their team. Only 15% of respondents thought the NHS as a whole gave support workers the recognition they deserved (King's College London, 2021, pg 22).
Health Education England’s Voice Network (a national support worker group; first meeting June 2021) identified perceptions of not being valued as a key issue.
- Investors in people highlight some key ways that employees feel valued.
- NHS Employers have provided twelve top tips on staff engagement.
Support Worker Voice
The Support Worker Voice is a free virtual network facilitated by Health Education England, set up specifically for the Support Worker workforce. It consists of regular meetings with an agenda driven by Support Workers.
The network gives Support Workers the chance to meet their counterparts from across the country so they may feel connected, share values and opinions and most importantly have their voices heard.
To register your interest and receive your invitation please email: supportworkervoice@hee.nhs.uk
Protecting staff from violence
The mental health support workforce experiences a disproportionate level of physical violence and bullying when compared to other mental health staff and other Trusts (Nuffield Trust 2021 pg. 47). The mental health support workforce is likely to spend the most amount of time out of all mental health roles providing direct care. This would increase their chances of experiencing patient violence.
On 2 January 2021 NHS England and NHS Improvement published the first national Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard for NHS organisations. The new standard complements existing health and safety legislation, employers (including NHS employers) have a general duty of care to protect staff from threats and violence at work. The standard delivers a risk-based framework that supports a safe and secure working environment for NHS staff, safeguarding them against abuse, aggression and violence.
These guidelines from NICE cover the short-term management of violence and aggression in adults (aged 18 and over), young people (aged 13 to 17) and children (aged 12 and under). It is relevant for mental health, health and community settings. The guideline aims to safeguard both staff and people who use services by helping to prevent violent situations and providing guidance to manage them safely when they occur.
Best practice case studies
- Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust successfully reduced violence against community mental health staff. Find out more on the Health and Safety Executive website.
Managing concerns raised effectively
RCN guidance on handling and learning from comments, concerns and complaints
This guide has been prepared by the RCN to help frontline nurses and health care support workers understand how to deal with feedback, both good and bad, as well as concerns, complaints and compliments.
NHS Employers: Raising concerns – guidance for managers
Managers in the NHS can use the following guidance to positively respond to concerns raised.
National Guardian’s Office
Freedom to Speak Up Guardians support workers to speak up when they feel that they are unable to in other ways. You can find out more details, including who your Freedom to Speak up Guardian from the National Guardian’s Office.
Support from Trade Unions
If you belong to a Trade Union you will have a representative who can help you - your Trust's intranet or HR team will have details of the recognised Unions but you can join any union you wish (and your employer does not need to know). More details and advice are available from the Trade Unions Congress website.
ACAS guide to dealing with problems at work
You can also find advice and guidance from the ACAS website.