News and events
Healthier NHS staff will improve patient care and save money
19 August 2009
More needs to be done to place the health and well-being of NHS staff, alongside quality, at the heart of how the health service operates, according to the latest findings of an independent review published today.
Improving the health and well-being of 1.4million NHS staff could potentially save over half a billion pounds a year and improve patient care, according to an Interim Report from the NHS Health and Well-being Review.
Occupational health expert Dr Steve Boorman – who was asked by the Department of Health earlier this year to lead the review – calls for an overhaul in the priority and focus placed on staff health, particularly given the aspirations laid out in the NHS Constitution, to help the NHS meet the challenges it faces over upcoming years.
Dr Boorman said: “NHS staff work incredibly hard often in difficult circumstances to ensure high quality healthcare is available to all at the point of need – and we can do more to support staff health and well-being.”
“While there are strong examples of good practice, staff health and well-being provision is patchy across the service. By putting staff health and well-being at the heart of how the NHS operates we will not only help improve the working lives of 1.4million people, but evidence suggests we will make significant savings and improve outcomes for patients.”
The review has found that current provision for staff health and well-being is in need of system-wide improvement. The NHS currently loses 10.3m working days annually due to sickness absence alone, costing £1.7bn per year. A reduction of a third would mean an extra 3.4m working days a year, and annual direct cost savings of over half a billion pounds (£555m).
There is significant evidence to suggest that trust performance overall is linked to higher levels of staff health and well-being. Staff ill-health is shown to be a serious barrier to the provision of consistently high quality patient care, with over 80% of the 11,000 NHS staff who took part in the review’s staff perception survey saying that their state of health affects the quality of the patient care they deliver.
The report makes a comprehensive set of recommendations to place staff health and well-being of the core of NHS operational planning, including:
*incorporating staff health and well-being measures and performance monitoring in the NHS governance frameworks, including provider contracts
*national publication and monitoring of key health and well-being statistics, linked to the quality agenda
*a national minimum standard of occupational health services across the NHS;
*dedicated senior level ownership of health and well-being provision planning;
*a service-wide culture transformation to promote better understanding health and well-being issues from board to ward level; and
*an improved provision of wellness and early intervention services for staff, including counselling support, health checks, anti-smoking and healthier eating advice.
NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson said: “There are opportunities to improve both the quality of care and the productivity of NHS organisations by investing in the health of our staff. Other countries and industries already invest significantly in staff health and it is important that the NHS does the same. The ongoing NHS Health and Well-being review is crucial to achieving our ambition to develop world-class health and well-being services for all NHS staff.”
Dame Carol Black, National Director of Health and Work said: “I’m delighted to see the work initiated in the Working for a Healthier Tomorrow report being carried forward in this review. As the UK’s largest employer by far, the NHS has shown a genuine commitment to improving the working lives of all staff. Dr Boorman’s Interim Report presents a compelling case for the NHS to prioritise staff health and well-being, and illustrates the clear link between staff health and the quality of care they provide. I look forward to seeing the final report later this year.”
Clare Chapman, Director General, Workforce said: “We welcome the publication of this Interim Report and the engagement opportunities provided by forthcoming events. Ambitious pledges for both patients and staff have been enshrined in the NHS Constitution and this report and the work that now needs to happen within the service can help us to make them stick.”
The review has been gathering opinions and evidence from across the NHS since April this year, and had high levels of response from staff, experts, key stakeholders and NHS organisations.
Dr Boorman invited staff and stakeholders, within the NHS and beyond, to respond to the Interim Report and seize the opportunity to influence the final report later this year – which will feed into the NHS Operating Framework for 2010-11.
