We helped health and care leaders in the Midlands to take a transparent, collaborative approach to uncovering opportunities for improvement in staff health and wellbeing and creating an actionable plan for the whole region.

Background

The Be Well Midlands programme created an opportunity for everyone working in health and social care in the Midlands to have a conversation about wellbeing by sharing thoughts, ideas and experiences in a safe, anonymous environment. This covered 260,000 staff across 11 integrated care systems (ICSs) and 81 NHS organisations.

Action

The NHS Midlands and Lancashire’s (NHS ML) Business Intelligence and Improvement Unit helped with collecting information on existing health and wellbeing interventions and understanding of potential barriers to access. We worked with a third sector organisation (Clever Together) to facilitate staff engagement and gather insight.

We used workforce intelligence and triangulated data with population and wider inequalities. For example, sickness absence data may suggest a higher absence for BAME staff during the last 12 months. We looked into how this correlates to the health inequalities data for specific areas. This created comprehensive profiles based on population and workforce analysis, and it provided the basis on which ICSs across the Midlands could shape and develop health and wellbeing strategies.

The overall aim was to eventually have the Be Well Midlands work on the national agenda and be held up as a gold standard service.

Impact

The aim of the programme was to create an action plan that will improve wellbeing provision for people working in health and care – so that they can continue providing exceptional care to people living in the Midlands.

It created a first-of-its-kind workforce and population profile across the 11 ICSs. Leaders will now interpret it to develop health and wellbeing strategies and ensure that health inequalities in the workforce are addressed.

“NHS ML were recommended by another NHS organisation and I am so pleased to have made the connection.  From the first exploratory meeting, through the contract arrangements, to the final product itself – NHS ML colleagues were professional, knowledgeable, supportive and flexible, recognising the challenges of delivering within an NHS environment in the context of COVID and vaccination as a condition of deployment. 

“Nothing was ever too much of an ask for any of the team – always there to listen, support the programme and offer assistance to ensure successful delivery. 

“I am proud to say that these colleagues formed a trusted and reliable team, providing not only important value and contribution to their own role in delivery, but significant input on other factors of the programme that were delivered by other partners. 

“The skills that the team brought to the programme were invaluable, understanding the programme outcomes and recommending how best to support delivery.  The team always made themselves available and valued their understanding of an NHS environment to ensure the final product was delivered within context.”

Vicky Self, Programme Manager, Regional (Midlands) Enhanced Health & Wellbeing Programme