Friday 6 January 2017

The Trust which runs Shropshire’s acute hospitals has introduced a range of initiatives to support the health and wellbeing of staff at work – including those whose absence is due to stress.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, has seen a small rise in the number of staff off work with mental health issues, predominantly stress.

It has been working with staff to look at the causes of stress, which may be work related but also could involve issues outside of work, and to identify support for staff. The support does not just focus on stress, but looks at ways to support the entire health and wellbeing of staff

Victoria Maher, Workforce Director at SaTH, said: “Working in hospitals can sometimes be a stressful experience. Our dedicated and caring staff care for thousands of patients every week who need us when they are at their most vulnerable. As a Trust, we are very mindful of the health and wellbeing of not only our patients but also of our staff who care for them.

“Our absence rate for the year to date is just over 4%. When we look at the reasons for that, of this 4% around one-fifth are off work with mental health issues. These are predominantly stress-related. This means a number of our staff are off work for a period of time with stress, which can be work related but can be to do with things at home.  We’ve been having a lot of conversations with our staff to understand the reasons for absence and exploring ways that we can support our staff further.”

Ways in which staff are supported at the Trust include:

  • 24/7 access to counselling for staff
  • Access to subsidised Mindfulness courses. These are programmes that teach mindfulness practices, such as meditation and yoga, to alleviate the suffering associated with stress.
  • Exercise classes including Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, & Legs, bums and tums.
  • Colour of change development – An interactive workshop designed to help staff find out more about how change affects them. It provides tools and techniques to support them through change.
  • Coaching support – providing support and guidance to staff towards a specific goal.
  • Resilience – helping people to adapt well to sources of stress.
  • Health and Safety Executive (HSE) competencies – managers are trained in how to use these to undertake stress risk assessments which help highlight areas where interventions are needed.
  • Two health and wellbeing events a year, attended by hundreds of staff. The events offer a wealth of advice, support and information to support the health and wellbeing of staff.