An intervention for nurse wellbeing

I am preparing for an inspection from the Health and Safety Executive, and the evidence requested for this relates to occupational health, including management of work-related stress. This led me to reflect on the increase in understanding and delivery of wellbeing interventions that have evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NHS People Plan identified the need to ensure a compassionate and inclusive culture, to create a sense of belonging and value for those central to the NHS (NHS England/NHS Improvement and Health Education England, 2020). West et al (2020) reflected that staff health and wellbeing is essential to the quality of care they can provide for patients, and that factors affecting nurses including work-related stress, turnover, absenteeism and presenteeism led to reported issues with retention in 2019. The NHS Staff Survey for 2020 identified increased working pressure during the pandemic—44% of staff reported feeling unwell as the result of work-related stress (a 40% increase from 2019) (Staff Survey Coordination Centre, 2021).