Information for Staff
The Workplace
The United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) is the fifth largest employer in the world, comprising over 5% of the entire UK working population and employing twice as many people as the top 100 UK private sector employers combined. Looking after the wellbeing of healthcare workers, and all those they care for, is a huge issue of importance to society.
Current Challenges
Current Challenges
- Financial pressure
- Staffing
- Low morale
- High demand
- Ageing population
- Competing priorities
- Level of sickness absence
- Numbers of leavers
- Number and cost of new recruits
- Proportion of leavers due to ill-health or low morale
- Level of agency spand
WORKING IN CRITICAL CARE
Critical care offers challenges to personal balance and wellbeing which include, but not exclusive to, prolonged engagement with patients and their carers, potential for poor outcomes, need for complex decision making, a 24/7 workload and the ubiquity of moral distress. However, on the other hand there can be substantial rewards. These include teamwork and peer support, predictable duties, a defined area of work, the privilege and challenge of working with seriously ill patients, and sometimes great treatment success.
Critical care also encompasses a complex mixed workforce, some in close knit teams, while others work in disparate groups and across multiple areas with less supportive mechanisms. Each area provided challenges and opportunities.
It is widely acknowledged that there are complex dynamic factors that influence workforce wellbeing and resilience.
Management strategies often focus upon the healthcare professional managing their stress at work, but there is growing acknowledgement that the nature of work and how an individual can be impacted by their team, their environment and the larger healthcare system. Wellbeing can only be achieved if we address the larger system.
Critical care also encompasses a complex mixed workforce, some in close knit teams, while others work in disparate groups and across multiple areas with less supportive mechanisms. Each area provided challenges and opportunities.
It is widely acknowledged that there are complex dynamic factors that influence workforce wellbeing and resilience.
Management strategies often focus upon the healthcare professional managing their stress at work, but there is growing acknowledgement that the nature of work and how an individual can be impacted by their team, their environment and the larger healthcare system. Wellbeing can only be achieved if we address the larger system.
WORK AND HEALTH
- Work offers opportunities to promote health and wellbeing
- Works can be good for your health
- Work can be bad for your health
- Is there a correct balance between preventing work related ill health and managing absence?
- What does your organisation do to promote work life balance?
HOW DOES YOUR ORGANISATION PROMOTE WORK-LIFE BALANCE?
- Positive work environment
- Development opportunities
- Flexible working
- Well structured teams
- Good quality appraisals
- Supportive managers
- Visible Board
- Staff feel like they make a difference
- Involved in decision making
- Reduced work pressures
- Clear job role
- Staff feel heard
- Inclusive
ICS Health & Wellbeing ResourcesThe Intensive Care Society has released a wellbeing resource pack developed with Dr Julie Highfield, Clinical Psychologist. The poster series aims to improve our understanding of psychological wellbeing at work, the impact reduced wellbeing can have and what we can do in response, and includes tips for dealing with extraordinary situations such as COVID-19 and everyday working in critical care.
Follow the links to access the ICS Wellbeing Hub resources : Staff wellbeing Resources Wellbeing Resources for Managers Wellbeing Blogs Wellbeing Training & Education Wellbeing Podcasts Wellbeing Articles Intensive care as a positive place to work: Workforce Wellbeing Best Practice Framework NHS People Website
This website is supporting NHS staff, helping you manage your own health and wellbeing whilst looking after others. There are lots of really useful resources including links to helplines and free apps. To access the website click here >>>> Civility Saves Lives – Improving workplace culture
Staff Wellbeing
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Feel Free to download and display the Going Home Checklist that can be used to encourage reflection and mindfulness at the end of a working day.
Adapted from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals. Coping with stress after a major incident
Royal College of Nursing Tool kits
Second Victim Support WebsiteSupported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, the website: www.secondvictim.co.uk aims to help second victims identify the types of support they may need and signpost them towards that help. It also features some powerful personal stories of how incidents have affected staff emotionally and professionally.
Based on evidence gathered from many studies into the impact of patient safety incidents on the staff involved, and their personal experiences, the website also encourages a safety culture where such incidents are managed in a way that enables learning and improves systems. The research team hopes the website will be used by healthcare professionals who are second victims themselves, their managers and other teams including HR, risk management, occupational health and organisational development. 
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