WIREDGOV

NHS trusts in England need to do more to support the health and mental wellbeing of their staff, an audit of NICE workplace guidance has revealed.

There is clear evidence to show that the health of NHS staff influences productivity and the quality of care delivered to patients. The recent Keogh Review of 14 trusts with high levels of patient mortality found that these trusts had high rates of staff sickness absence, particularly among doctors and nurses.

But despite this, nearly a quarter of trusts do not monitor their staff's mental wellbeing. Only 57 per cent have a mental wellbeing policy in place, even though mental health is one of the leading causes for long-term sickness absence among the NHS workforce.

Just 44 per cent of trusts have a policy in place for physical activity and only 28 per cent have a plan to tackle staff obesity.

A total of 73 per cent of trusts in England took part in the second audit of NICE public health workplace guidance carried out by the Royal College of Physicians.

The audit focused on recommendations for employers set out in six pieces of NICE public health guidance covering:

• the management of long-term sickness absence
• promoting mental wellbeing
• obesity
• smoking cessation
• promoting environments that encourage physical activity
• physical activity in the workplace

Although many trusts performed well and have improved since the first audit in 2010, the range of scores was wide, indicating that there remains room for improvement.

While 76 per cent of organisations offer healthy food choices in staff restaurants, only 27 per cent offer similar healthy food choices to those working night shifts.

Elsewhere, the audit found that only 31 per cent of trusts monitor long term sickness absence by age, and 38 per cent of trusts do not allow staff to attend smoking cessation services during working hours without loss of pay.

NICE Fellow Dr Siân Williams, Clinical Director at the Health and Work Development Unit at the Royal College of Physicians, said: “The round two audit results show that there is acknowledgement of the importance of staff health and wellbeing in the NHS; but the results also show that there is wide variation and progress is slow.

“This is concerning given the evidence that NHS staff health influences patient outcomes, for example infection rates. There is room for improvement to ensure that organisations are providing the best support for their staff.

“The NICE guidance that we measured against is evidence-based, and so is a very good place to start for NHS Trusts' developing staff health and wellbeing strategies. In fact, I would urge all Trusts to familiarise themselves with it, because we anticipate further guidance from NICE about public health and the workplace next year.”

Professor Mike Kelly, Director of Public Health at NICE, said: “NICE has produced a suite of guidance that can help employers look after the health and mental wellbeing of their staff.

“Sadly, the findings of this latest audit show that more needs to be done encourage trusts to adopt this guidance. NHS trusts need to take staff health and wellbeing seriously to ensure productivity at a time when there is increased pressure to make efficiency savings.”