Overview | Evidence Gathering | Stakeholder events | Dr Steve Boorman | Governance
Stakeholder events
Throughout August and September 2009 the Boorman Review team visited every SHA region in England, talking to staff and receiving feedback on the Interim Report. The events gave staff and service leaders the chance to discuss the findings of the review and raise any questions or concerns they had about its recommendations.
In every region of the country, Dr Boorman and the review team were reassured by what they heard. The attendees’ enthusiasm for placing staff health, with quality of care, at the heart of the NHS confirmed the impetus behind the report’s proposals for change. Attendees’ feedback was constructive and insightful, and will be crucial to making the final recommendations as practical as possible.
At each event, Dr Boorman set out his vision and findings, before running extensive question and answer sessions. Attendees then participated in a series of workshops run by staff and service leaders from across the region. These sessions focused on key health and well-being issues and gave attendees an opportunity to debate the report’s recommendations.
The event series also saw keynote presentations from a range of high-profile experts in the fields of health, work and well-being. Speakers included NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson, National Director for Health and Work, Dame Carol Black, Work Foundation Executive Vice-Chair Will Hutton, Unison Head of Health Karen Jennings and HSE board member Sayeed Khan.
Dr Boorman said:
“Putting staff health and well-being at the heart of how the NHS operates will not only help improve the working lives of 1.4million people; it will make significant financial savings and improve outcomes for patients."
“Over the last two months, myself and the review team have been privileged to hear from those on the frontline of NHS provision, and have received feedback that will be invaluable in putting together our final report. Learning from the good practice across all regions of the NHS is vital to improving staff health and well-being across the service”
The roadshows also included opportunities for staff to share their own best practice examples of occupational health services.
At the East of England event, Addenbrooke’s hospital gave a presentation that demonstrated the advances that can be made when hospital management commits to investing in the health and happiness of their staff. Regular staff health-check days offer employees blood pressure and BMI checks, dietary guidance and exercise and fitness advice. A health and well-being intranet site has been set up, offering information about public health initiatives like the Know Your Limits campaign.
In the West Midlands, attendees heard from Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals, whose Listening into Action programme provides another example of the benefits of a systematic commitment to staff health and well-being. The programme’s management development initiatives are designed to demonstrate how engaging with staff can aid in delivering high quality patient care. Last year’s staff survey showed a 26% increase in senior managers encouraging staff to suggest service improvement ideas, as well as a 17% rise in the number of staff who thought that the needs of patients were their trusts’ top priority. Through the LiA process, staff also fed back that sickness should be more actively managed. This, combined with other initiatives such as proactive rehabilitation, has seen overall sickness absence fall by 20%. Other performance measures show a clear positive impact on patient care: the trust’s standardised mortality rate fell by 20 points over three years, and MRSA levels decreased to 0.4/1000 bed days - among the lowest in the country.
In Manchester, the review team heard about Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde NHS Foundation Trust which had identified significant issues with mental health problems, where staff cited work as the sole or main reason. It was also experiencing high rates of sickness absence, reduced levels of performance and efficiency and a negative effect on service delivery. The trust took action to tackle the problem recognising the need for a comprehensive approach to tackling the underlying issues, engaging the Trust Board, managers, trade unions and the workforce to identify underlying issues and develop and implement plans for tackling them. Phase one of the project has made significant progress, with sickness absence down and a significant reduction in cases of workplace-related stress. Importantly, reduced stress and sickness absence has improved the Trust’s performance and benefited patient care through increasing permanent staff presence and improving staffing ratios.
These are just three of the many examples of best practice that staff shared throughout the roadshow series. Encouragingly, much of the positive feedback on the events related to this sharing of good ideas and practice. Following the conclusion of the roadshows, there continues to be a steady flow of material in to the review team relating to successful NHS initiatives.
Dr Boorman and the team are confident that attendees came away from the events ready to tackle the challenge of improving staff health and well-being in their organisations. They received some excellent feedback both during the events, and afterwards through the communications channels on the Review website, and continue to engage with many of the staff who attended. The review team hopes that the enthusiasm, commitment and innovation will spread throughout the service, and help achieve the goal of transforming the way the NHS supports staff health and well-being.
