Government commits to improving wellbeing of NHS staff

The Government has accepted in full recommendations from an independent report into the health and wellbeing of NHS staff, Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, announced today.

The recommendations, which it is estimated could save up to 3.4 million working days  and £555m a year, were made in a Department of Health commissioned report on NHS staff health and wellbeing led by Dr Steve Boorman.

Dr Boorman’s final report made 20 recommendations, including:

• NHS organisations have a prevention-focused health and wellbeing strategy in place for all staff;
• Senior management being made accountable at each organisation for staff health and wellbeing, which will be measured as part of the annual assessments of NHS performance; and
• Early interventions for staff with musculo-skeletal and mental health conditions, to help minimise the time staff must spend suffering with these problems, and support early return to work.

Andy Burnham said:

“The purpose of the NHS is to improve the health and wellbeing of the general public. We cannot be serious about this if we are not committed to improving the health of those that care for our population.

“That is why I am accepting Steve Boorman’s recommendations and committing to help NHS organisations implement them. We hope that by making these improvements we will provide real benefits for NHS staff and patients.

“We want to see the NHS become an exemplar for other organisations to follow, valuing its employees as it values its patients. Savings of up to £555m per year that we can reinvest in the NHS will undoubtedly improve the quality of patient care and – importantly in the current economic climate – save the taxpayer money.”

The Department of Health has today published a proposed action plan for implementing the recommendations and has set aside £6.5m for putting in place the national systems required to support the NHS to deliver this.