Wellbeing Strategy Development for the Walton Centre NHS Trust

Overview:

The Walton Centre NHS Trust, a leading neurology and neurosurgery hospital in the UK, recognised the need to prioritise the wellbeing of its staff. As a healthcare organisation, they understood the significance of fostering a healthy and supportive environment to support employee wellbeing and enhance patient care and staff satisfaction.

The Challenge:

The Trust faced several challenges related to employee burnout, stress, and overall wellbeing. Long working hours, high-pressure situations, and the emotional toll of caring for patients with complex neurological conditions were taking a toll on the staff’s mental and physical health.

The Walton Centre had invested in staff wellbeing for a number of years and had already established a variety of initiatives/services:

• Wellbeing strategy and steering group
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee benefit’s platform
• In-house coaches
• PDR – Wellbeing conversations lead by management staff
• Wellbeing page on the intranet and communication/section in Walton Weekly
• 28 trained Mental Health First Aiders
• Pre-covid history of onsite fitness classes
• Occupational health service

They had already achieved and maintained the Investors in People’s Bronze award for health & wellbeing for a number of years.

Objectives:

The primary goal was to develop a comprehensive Wellbeing Strategy that met national aims and guidelines, used the NHS Health & Wellbeing Framework released in 2021 and aimed to achieve the following:

1. Support mental, physical, social financial and workplace-specific wellbeing.
2. Represent employee Health & Wellbeing at Board and Divisional levels.
3. Demonstrate visible organisational support.
4. Provide all employees with appropriate occupational health support whilst at work.
5. Increase management’s/department’s responsibility for the safety and management of employee wellbeing.
6. Provide all employees with access to a proactive wellbeing programme and personal 1-1 support.
7. Periodically measure the effectiveness of the health and wellbeing programmes.

Achievements:

The implementation of the Wellbeing Strategy yielded impressive results:

• Achieved Investors in People’s Silver Award for their ‘we invest in wellbeing 3-year accreditation.

• Trained 1 in 50 staff as mental health first aiders (MHFAiders) and over 40 in mental health awareness (accredited by MHFA England). Training provided by Wellbeing4business Ltd.

• Developed the governance of MHFAiders and supported them with regular drop-in meetings to discuss key topics, and best practice and to navigate any difficulties in fulfilling their role. Meetings were chaired by Matt Holt-Rogers – Wellbeing4business Ltd.

• Developed organisational structure for health & wellbeing.
  • Established a wellbeing steering group to monitor the implementation of the wellbeing strategy and provide feedback from their departments.
  • Built ‘departmental wellbeing teams’ to increase the flow of wellbeing information and increase engagement in wellbeing initiatives.
  • Collaborated with the communications team to develop a communications plan.

• Developed and implemented a employee wellbeing programme.
  • Given health & wellbeing a brand/identitiy within the Trust with a logo and branding guidelines. To make any wellbeing communications easy to identify as wellbeing info.
  • Produced a monthly wellbeing newsletter – Walton Wellbeing.
  • Developed and communicated wellbeing services to support mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing.
  • Developed an annual health check programme to provide ALL staff with the opportunity to check key health risks.
    • In its first quarter, provided a health check to 10% of the organisation, and referred 19% to their GP for high blood pressure, cholesterol or blood glucose.
    • It was also established that a large % of staff were struggling with their sleep, menopause, exercise, alcohol use and energy levels.
  • Held monthly Wellbeing Wednesday events – Providers such as EAP providers have a stand outside one of the high traffic wards to promote the service to staff.
  • Provided anxiety drop-in sessions with the Neuropsychiatry lead for mental health awareness week.
  • Established staff networks for the LGBTQ+ & disabilities. These groups have hosted drop-in sessions in the staff wellbeing HUB.
  • Trained staff menopause champions and held menopause drop-in sessions in the staff wellbeing HUB.

• Built a wellbeing dashboard to help make informed decisions with regard to employee wellbeing.
  • The dashboard collates data and information from Occupational health reports, ESR data, survey data (staff survey, pulse surveys and Bi-annual wellbeing surveys), health check programme and EAP.
  • The dashboard provides a quarterly report to key stakeholders and the board of directors.

• Improved staff survey scores for wellbeing related questions.
  • Scoring in the top 3 in the acute hospitals category

• Developed a Staff Wellbeing HUB.

Testimonials:

“The Wellbeing Strategy at the Walton Centre has been a game-changer. As a nurse, I feel more supported and valued, which has significantly improved my work-life balance and overall happiness.” – Emily, Registered Nurse

“I have seen a remarkable transformation in our hospital’s culture since the implementation of the Wellbeing Strategy. Our staff now feel empowered to prioritise their mental health, leading to better patient care.” – Micheal Gibney, Director of people

Conclusion:

The success of the Wellbeing Strategy at the Walton Centre NHS Trust serves as a shining example of how a healthcare organisation can prioritise the wellbeing of its staff and, in turn, improve patient care outcomes.

By addressing the challenges head-on and implementing evidence-based strategies, the Trust was able to create a healthier and more productive work environment for its employees, positively impacting the lives of both staff and patients.

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Contact Us to Develop a wellbeing strategy.

We can deliver any or all of the services you need from the moment you decide to make a change, from planning the changes to running and managing your projects.

If your organisation is looking to develop a wellbeing strategy or is struggling to create a sustainable change to manage employee health and wellbeing, Wellbeing4business Ltd can you help your organisation to develop a proactive and data-driven approach to employee wellbeing.

We can help to:

• Achieve recognition for Investors in People’s “We invest in wellbeing standard”.
• Score higher for wellbeing in the annual staff survey – NHS clients only
• React to changes in employee health & wellbeing with efficiency and precision.
• Design wellbeing programmes to address specific health risks.
• Integrate your strategy with OH practices.