Mental Health: Supporting NHS Workforce Resilience

Registration in the Networking Area

Chair's Opening Address

• Lawrence McGinty, Chair, Medical Journalists' Association (confirmed)

Lawrence McGinty has reported on health for more than three decades for New Scientist magazine, Channel 4 and ITV News. Lawrence’s reporting has covered an extensive range of medical issues and earnt Emmy, BAFTA and Royal Television Society awards.   

• Joe Rafferty, Chief Executive, Mersey Care NHS Trust (confirmed)

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust identified barriers in its own internal culture that had prevented the adoption of an environment where staff felt supported and empowered to learn from situations where care has not gone as expected - the Trust undertook work to establish a transparent, open, 'Just and Learning Culture' that asked "what was responsible, not who was responsible".

The Trust worked with internationally recognised expert in restorative justice and author of best-selling book 'Just Culture', Professor Sidney Dekker, as well as assessing best practices in industries like airlines, nuclear technology, oil and exploration as workforces that engage with daily tasks knowing that there is always an element of risk. Mersey Care introduced initiatives and recommendations to promote openness and transparency in order to accelerate the rate of care improvement at the Trust:

• 100% of leaders Band 7 and above (or equivalent) have been assessed and developed a plan to support their teams in a Just and Learning environment.
• Supporting colleagues’ psychological safety by introducing bullying awareness programmes for staff based on a preventative approach to recognising bullying behaviours and development of a process to resolve issues.
• Development of a standardised framework to support learning from incidents in a manner that ensures risks are addressed and learning is maximised.
• Produce a guide for colleagues and service users on Just and Learning expectations to describe the shared responsibility between individuals, teams and the organisation to create a safe and compassionate environment. 

• Kirsty Brewerton, Former Band 5 Staff Nurse, NHS England (confirmed)

This presentation will be delivered by Kirsty Brewerton, formerly a band 5 staff nurse at a busy NHS accident and emergency department. Kirsty left her role due to the emotional and mental health pressures compounded by staffing shortages in the NHS and will be discussing the experience; sharing her perspective on what can be done to improve access to mental health support for NHS staff.

• Dr Julia Patterson, Lead, EveryDoctor (confirmed)

A grassroots, non-profit campaigning group ran by doctors, for doctors - EveryDoctor works in pursuit of universally decent, safe working conditions for doctors; as well as challenging misleading media messaging about the NHS workforce and promoting fair, evidence-based thinking in health-related policy. Dr Julia Patterson is a leading campaigner in the fight against public sector cuts that are depleting NHS resources at the expense of patient safety and workforce morale. This presentation will look at prospective models of strengthening the interaction between doctors, bodies that represent them in the workplace and campaigns that address issues affecting delivery of care in the NHS - informed by international experts in democratic and political campaigning.

Question & Answer Session

• Joe Rafferty, Chief Executive, Mersey Care NHS Trust (confirmed)
• Kirsty Brewerton, Former Band 5 Staff Nurse, NHS England (confirmed)
• Dr Julia Patterson, Lead, EveryDoctor (confirmed)

Coffee in the Networking Area

• Dr Andrew Mowat, Director, Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project (confirmed)

There has never been a greater need to recruit more doctors to the NHS. The number of doctors retiring or leaving the NHS in Lincolnshire outnumbers those entering it - this is reflected nationally in the decreasing number of recruits into Primary and Secondary care. The Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project is a humanitarian programme supporting refugee doctors in the area to safely practice medicine in the UK by equipping them with the skills and knowledge required to satisfy examinations in language and clinical skills. The LRDP has three core ambitions:

• To recruit Refugee Doctors to Lincolnshire and to support them long-term within the community.
• To provide them with the skills and knowledge required to satisfy examination in Language and Clinical Skills.
• To allow them to practice safely as medical practitioners in the UK.

This presentation will take delegates through the LRDP programme; from introduction to the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) framework to sitting the International English Language Testing System exams whilst volunteering in clinical settings - all the way to leaving the scheme and entering full-time work in the NHS.    

• Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, Oldham Council (confirmed)

Local authorities have always had a role in promoting the wider determinants of public health and maintaining service provision. This session will review policies and initiatives backed by local authorities to support the mental health and wellbeing of NHS staff, including:

• Homes for NHS staff - a policy published by NHSI in June 2019 to improve access to affordable housing for staff employed within the NHS by securing an offer of first refusal on affordable homes developed on land owned or being disposed of by NHS estate owners. The policy requires that NHS estate owners work with local planning authorities and that the number of affordable homes be determined by local affordable housing requirements.
• Parity of esteem between health and social care workforces - the distinctiveness of the NHS and social care workforces must be respected. However, in order to achieve better parity of esteem between the NHS and social care workforces, the Local Government Association recognises that greater coordination around pay and reward strategies for staff is required at all levels. 

Question & Answer Session

• Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, Oldham Council (confirmed)
• Dr Andrew Mowat, Director, Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project (confirmed)

Lunch in the Networking Area

A hot, two-course lunch consisting of multiple options will be provided for delegates. We cater for all dietary requirements, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten/dairy-free; just notify us ahead of time should you have any allergens or requirements.

Chair's Afternoon Address

• Lawrence McGinty, Chair, Medical Journalists' Association (confirmed)

• Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and REAL (Research and Economic Analysis for the Long Term) Centre, The Health Foundation (confirmed)

The Health Foundation has produced a series of publications analysing NHS England staff trends and making policy recommendations to sustain the NHS workforce. The fourth annual NHS workforce trends report (November 2019) provided a detailed analysis of long-term trends and insights into the size and composition of the NHS England workforce. Falling Short: the NHS Workforce Challenge addresses shortages in nursing, general practice and primary care as well as looking to other pressure points like training new student nurses to deliver appropriate levels of care, retention of existing staff and the political context in which international recruitment programmes are taking place. The report concluded that the NHS will need to recruit 5,000 international nurses per-annum in order to prevent increases in unfilled posts - latest figures demonstrate just 1,600 international recruits came to the NHS in 2017/18. Nursing is significantly understaffed and pressurised - the modest growth in nurses working within the NHS is outstripped by demand; with vacancies reaching reaching almost 44,000 in the first quarter of 2019/20 - equivalent to 12% of the nursing workforce.

This presentation will look at a series of high-impact policy actions that could be at the heart of a workforce implementation plan, including:

• The government should consider significantly increasing the financial support to nursing students by providing 'cost of living' grants of around £5,200 a year on top of the means-tested loans system.
• The NHS should build on the NHS Constitution and provide an explicit statement of the 'universal offer' to staff; including, but not limited to: their legal rights and what staff can expect in terms of pay and opportunity, continuing professional development, work-life balance and appraisals. 
• Expanding current workforce development budgets in order to support the continued professional development (CPD) of NHS staff. 

• Liam Barnes, Founder, The Laura Hyde Foundation (confirmed)

The Laura Hyde Foundation (LHF) was established in response to the tragic passing of a young naval nurse, Laura Hyde, who suffered with mental health issues whilst providing care and support for others. The Foundation's Mission Statement is: To ensure that all medical and emergency services personnel have access to the best mental health support network available. The LHF has set-out a series of actionable pledges to build and develop focused, relevant mental health support networks for those working in emergency services. This presentation will explore LHF initiatives, such as:

• Funding and oversight of a wellbeing programme for medical students at 14 separate universities in the Midlands and South West; providing our future doctors and nurses with access to self-help techniques for coping with trauma exposure, resilience training and modular teaching by charity-funded staff.
• Developing clinical whitepapers and self-help material in-unison with the LHF's charity-funded clinical leads covering self-help which will be linked in to employee handbooks.
• Working with local NHS Trusts to develop and manage a free-to-use online forum for NHS staff, providing a secure space to share experiences; building a community where NHS staff can seek and access support.
• Funding wellbeing initiatives such as art and pet therapy sessions - providing opportunities to engage with stress-relieving programmes.          

• Dr Sharon McDonnell, Managing Director, Suicide Bereavement UK (confirmed)

Sharon McDonnell is the Managing Director of Suicide Bereavement UK (SBUK) and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (UoM). Her work is internationally recognised. Prior to setting up SBUK, Sharon worked at the Centre for Mental Health and Safety at the UoM, which is the largest suicide prevention research department internationally.  During her time at the university, Sharon and her team conducted a three year study, which informed the development of evidence-based suicide bereavement training, entitled ‘Postvention Assisting Those Bereaved by Suicide’ (PABBS), which is first of its kind internationally. Sharon is currently leading a large scale national suicide bereavement survey, which aims to identify the experiences and perceived needs of those bereaved or affected by suicide. A report will be launched in 2020.  Findings will be of national and international importance. Sharon has been personally bereaved by suicide.

Question & Answer Session

• Anita Charlesworth, Director of Research and REAL (Research and Economic Analysis for the Long Term) Centre, The Health Foundation (confirmed)
• Liam Barnes, Founder, The Laura Hyde Foundation (confirmed)
• Dr Sharon McDonnell, Managing Director, Suicide Bereavement UK (confirmed)

Chair's Closing Remarks

Event Close