The latest on our NHS Staff Wellbeing campaign

The government announced its spring statement in March, and we called for investment in long-term, ring-fenced funding for psychologically-led mental health support for health and care staff. 

We also submitted evidence to the Keep Britain Working review, which included our position on the need for investment in NHS staff mental health and wellbeing services. 

We are continuing to build closer relationships with policymakers so that we can promote our position, and now attend the Policy Liaison Group for Workforce Wellbeing. This group contains a range of employers from across the different sectors, and gives us greater insight into workforce wellbeing practices beyond the NHS.  

This, alongside our presence on the workforce sub-group of the NHS England Mental Health Independent Advisory and Oversight Group and Programme Board, and the mental health sub-group and board of the Council for Work and Health, means our influence in this area has expanded significantly.    

We have also been holding regular meetings with NHS England and stakeholders to advocate for the vital role of mental health and wellbeing services, and particular the importance of protecting the future of the remaining NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs, which were the inspiration for this campaign. 

This work has included contributing to NHS England's national review of staff mental health and wellbeing services, supporting our members to participate in focus groups to share best practice and highlight where there is need, and helping the NHS to shape future service provision. 

NHS England recently announced a tender process for a new supplier contract for a national staff mental health support service, which is a development we arecurrently reviewing to assess if it goes far enough to meet needs.

We are continuing to regularly meet with clinical hub leads for the remaining 11 NHS Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs. The majority of these are offering a reduced service due to funding issues, which shows the importance of finding a long-term solution for funding staff wellbeing services. 

The NHS recently released the latest findings from its staff survey, which highlighted that staff continue to experience unacceptable levels of burnout and discrimination. My colleague Kalpita Kunde, chair of our Division of Clinical Psychology, has written a blog in response to those findings that I would recommend reading. 

The publication of the highly-anticipated NHS 10 Year Plan is expected imminently. The plan offers a significant opportunity for a renewed commitment to support staff mental health and wellbeing, and we'll be looking out for that.   

We will continue our work advocating for better mental health and wellbeing support for NHS staff, with the campaign now part of the 'Psychology at work' workstream within our Psychology Matters programme. It's worth keeping an eye on the webpage for this, where we will regularly update on our progress and with our responses to news reports and new research findings.