Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust has become the latest NHS provider to sign a pledge supporting the principles of the Nursing Times Covid-19: Are You OK? campaign.
The trust signed up to support the campaign, after its Clare Parker, its executive director of nursing, responded to a call made by Nursing Times to NHS providers across the UK.
Pennine Care, which employs around 4,000 staff, provides mental health and learning disability services to people across Greater Manchester.
It runs a range of mental health and learning disability services for children and adults from sites in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale, Tameside and Glossop, and Stockport.
The trust highlighted that it had already taken a range of steps to protect staff mental health and wellbeing.
These include a dedicated staff wellbeing service offering support, counselling or therapy. Staff can self-refer or a referral can be made by a line manager.
It also offers wellbeing screening and support for our staff and their families through the Greater Manchester Resilience Hub, and a comprehensive staff wellbeing hub on its intranet.
In addition, ‘wellbeing and work’ sessions have provided an opportunity for staff to share personal experiences, connect with other colleagues and support their own wellbeing.
Meanwhile, there are blended Schwartz Rounds, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, links to free wellbeing and mindfulness apps, and health and wellbeing ‘wobble rooms’ across the trust.
Nursing Times launched the Covid-19: Are You OK? campaign in April 2020 to first raise awareness of the mental health pressures and wellbeing needs of nurses during and after the coronavirus pandemic.
They are now in the second phase of the campaign, which involves actively asking employers from the health and care sector to back the aims of the campaign.
“We have been doing everything we can to support them, in a practical and holistic way”
Clare Parker
As a result, they aim to contact the majority of NHS acute, specialist, community and mental health providers, as well as independents, in the coming weeks to see if they will sign the campaign pledge.
In signing up to support the campaign, employers are pledging to provide easily accessible formal mental health and wellbeing support to staff for as long as it is needed.
They are also agreeing to foster a culture of mutual support, in which staff are alert to the possibility that colleagues may be experiencing problems as a result of their work during the pandemic.
In addition, they are pledging to ensure staff experiencing problems know they will receive a positive, supportive response by disclosing them and that it will not be viewed as a sign of weakness.
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Source: Nursing Times, July 2021
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