The government has accepted in full the recommendations of an
NHS occupational health review that found staff were suffering from
high levels of mental ill-health.
Health secretary Andy Burnham announced yesterday that improving
staff health and well-being would be a priority in the NHS
operating framework for 2010-11, meaning trusts will be
assessed on it by the Care Quality Commission through staff
surveys.
He backed the recommendations of
occupational health
expert Dr Steve Boorman's review into the well-being of NHS
staff, which was published in August.
This found that
staff were suffering mental ill-health due to stress, bullying and
harassment and managers were not taking employees' concerns
seriously enough.
Boorman claimed the NHS could save £555m a year by reducing
sickness absence, which currently costs the service £1.7bn and
numbers 10.7 million days a year.
The Department of Health pledged to take forward a
recommendation for staff to have access to early intervention
support for common mental health and musculo-skeletal problems,
like back pain.
It said NHS occupational health teams should invest in
physiotherapy and psychological counselling services, by
reprioritising resources, including through reduced use of
pre-employment screening.
The DH also said it would call on trusts to give managers access
to training and guidance in managing staff with mental health
problems, and other required training to improve staff
well-being.
In a letter to Boorman, Burnham said he would call on strategic
health authorities to lead the implementation of the review in
their areas, and said £6.5m had been set aside to monitor
implementation nationally.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy welcomed the
announcement, but chief executive Phil Gray said: "The government
needs to ensure that strategic health authorities and primary care
trusts make the necessary early investment in specialist
physiotherapy to implement Dr Boorman's recommendations. This is
not something that can be done half-heartedly."
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