A focus on the psychological wellbeing of nurses, midwives, and paramedics is an important catalyst to revitalise the NHS, say researchers at the University of Surrey.
The team are launching a guide targeted at helping the three professions thrive at work and deliver high-quality care to patients, often in challenging and emotionally taxing circumstances.
The guide, entitled Delivering Healthcare: A Complex Balancing Act – a Guide to Understanding and Tackling Psychological Ill-health in Nurses, Midwives and Paramedics is the result of a comprehensive National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded study conducted in 2020-2022 to understand why psychological ill-health persists despite interventions to prevent it.
The guide makes six recommendations targeted at Wellbeing Guardians (leaders looking to improve staff wellbeing at work and NHS culture), executive boards, senior leaders, team managers and anyone working to improve the psychological health of nurses, midwives and paramedics. The recommendations are:
- Prioritise essential needs: Make sure the basic needs of staff, like access to food, rest areas, and appropriate work resources, are met. This forms the foundation for effective work.
- Take a systems approach to staff support and share good practice: Ensure psychological health is not the responsibility of individuals alone – it is a collective endeavour. Review and develop support systems, sharing good practices and addressing gaps in staff support. Extend support programmes, such as the Practitioner Health Programme, beyond doctors and dentists. Ensure Wellbeing Guardians have sufficient resources.
- Normalise and anticipate psychological health management: Acknowledge that stress and burnout are inevitable in healthcare. Implement strategies for early discussions about psychological health (including with students) and develop long-term plans to manage and mitigate these risks.
- Give equal emphasis to psychological and physical harm: Focus on psychological health needs and preventing harm, not only the risk of physical injury. Run risk assessments for psychological w