With increasing concerns around the working conditions and psychological wellbeing of staff in the NHS, questions have been raised about how best to support staff wellbeing. Research is clear that wellbeing interventions that target the organisation and staff’s working environment work better than those which focus solely on supporting the individual person. Although it might seem simple to say: “we need to improve working conditions”, the challenge is whether this is possible and, if so, what this actually looks like in practice.
In a project led by Birkbeck’s Dr Kevin Teoh and Dr Rashi Dhensa-Kahlon, together with researchers from the University of Sheffield, the University of Nottingham, and the Norwegian Science and Technology University, interviews were carried out with individuals and teams that have run organisational interventions in the NHS to support staff wellbeing.
The findings are captured in a report entitled Organisational Wellbeing Interventions: Case Studies from the NHS which provides insights from 13 such interventions to serve as examples. The report details the learnings from these interventions, including important facilitators and barriers that affected the success of each intervention. Examples of some of the interventions the report details include overhauling staff rotas and shift patterns, removing bureaucracy and meeting times, changing patient care processes, co-designing fatigue management strategies, and improving team formation and psychological support.
Dr Teoh commented: “These findings highlight that where staff are given the opportunity to do so, they identify issues in their working environment that matter to them, and what can be done to change that. In most instances this led to better staff wellbeing, and what’s amazing is that in some examples we see beneficial outcomes for patient care and financial savings for the organisation as well.”
Dr Dhensa-Kahlon added: “This project has been a discovery of just how much excellent work is being carried out across the NHS. Each intervention brought to life how relatively simple, yet efficient, changes to the working patterns of staff made huge differences to their overall wellbeing. “
The research team summarised the learning from across all interventions into six principles to guide future organisational interventions aimed at supporting staff wellbeing in the NHS – although these are likely beneficial to many other organisations too:
- Staff wellbeing is a systems issue.
- Tailor the intervention to the context.
- Involve staff in the process.
- Get support from leaders.
- Interventions are iterative.
- Plan for the long haul.
Dr Shriti Pattani, President of SOM and Adviser to NHS England’s Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing Strategy, said: “I am pleased this report has been written, as often examples of good practice are not shared. These examples will hopefully inspire others to lead their own interventions, and shows that change for the better is possible”.
The report was launched at an online webinar, attended by 190 participants, hosted by SOM on Thursday 23rd March. The full report is available here. The webinar recording is available here.
The project was funded through the Birkbeck Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund and supported by SOM.