The efforts of the NHS to improve the health of its staff have barely
begun, warns an independent think-tank, which believes the organisation
should aim to become the UK’s ‘model employer’ on workplace health.
A report by Reform states that the NHS’s average sickness-absence rate of 4.5 per cent is 50 per cent higher than the private sector, and is costing the NHS about £3 billion a year in lost staff time. The think-tank concludes that the NHS could save £1 billion a year if it could replicate the private sector’s absence-management model.
According to the report, the current approach could be improved if the NHS could reorient itself towards prevention rather than treatment, and secure buy-in from providers, particularly GPs. The report also calls on the Government to lower the barriers that discourage individuals from adopting positive habits. For example, employees who earn more than £8500 are penalised by having to declare any non work-related treatment provided by their employer as ‘benefits in kind’.
In a staunch defence of the Health Service, Sian Thomas, joint acting director at NHS Employers, told SHP: “The sickness absence rate in the NHS is as low as it has ever been, and staff health and welfare compare well with private-sector companies.
“This year’s NHS staff survey showed a 5-per-cent drop in reported stress levels, while many organisations now have dedicated programmes to help people return to work, or can offer alternative employment to staff who cannot continue with heavy physical work.”
However, psychologist Cary Cooper felt Reform could be missing the point. Blogging in response to the report, he argued that it is an unfortunate fact of life that the general level of morale in the public sector is often lower than in the private sector, and that it would take many years to change this culture.
Instead of focusing on improving absence-management processes, which, he said, is already occurring in many NHS trusts, leadership could hold the key, as “it is your senior leaders that create the culture of the organisation, generate the role models, set the direction, and provide an overarching sense of purpose for the workforce”.
The publication of the report preceded the launch on 21 April of a ‘Call for evidence’ to inform the Boorman NHS Health and Well-being Review. The inquiry was announced in November 2008 as part of the Government’s response to Dame Carol Black’s report on the health of the working-age population.
Among a number of issues, the ‘Call for evidence’ asks stakeholders what they see as the main barriers to implementation of health and well-being practices, and what ‘success’ for NHS staff health and well-being should look like. The review will also consider work to be carried out directly with NHS staff to record their perceptions of health and well-being policy.
Dr Steve Boorman, lead reviewer, said: “This review is a vital opportunity for everyone across the NHS workforce — from hospital porters to Strategic Health Authority chief executives — to have their say on the quality of health and well-being in the NHS workforce. In commissioning this review, the NHS has demonstrated an admirable commitment to ensuring the well-being of its workforce.”
To contribute to the NHS review, visit www.nhshealthandwellbeing.org
Reform’s report, Fit for Recovery, is at www.reform.co.uk/fitforrecovery_222.php
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
